Council Tax in Staffordshire explained… I hope!

Each year, for the first three months, Local Authorities decide on the state of public finances and what council tax will be set. In Staffordshire every household pays one council tax bill but because we live in a ‘county’ it’s more complicated.

Lichfield District Council sends us the bill and collects our council tax payments. Although collected by Lichfield just under 90% of our money goes straight to Stafford. At Stafford the County Council keeps the vast majority and the remainder goes to the Police and Fire Authorities.

Locally, about 9% stays with Lichfield District Council with a couple or three % going to the parish council where we live. So, just to be clear, five different public bodies each decide on what council tax they want each April. And to be even clearer, about 90% is decided by County Councillors.

In reality, whatever the level of council tax set by each district, borough and parish councils is it makes little difference to the bottom line figure we pay because 90% is set by, and sent to, Stafford.

The other thing to note is the amount of public money spent by each body. Parish councils mostly budget up to a few tens of thousands each year, the district and boroughs in Staffordshire (depending on population) spend between 15 and 25million each (Lichfield towards the lower end), the County Council about 1.5billion (including education), Police Authority about 190million and the Fire Authority 40million.

Finally, while parish councils do not get any money from central government, the others all do.