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The Service
Council Tax Information - 2009/2010...
Our vision is to make life safer. We intend to achieve this by reducing risk in our local communities, thereby making it safer for people who live in, work in, or visit Hampshire.
Our corporate priorities and aims set out what areas we will focus on to make communities safer. Each of our aims fit into five priority areas on which we will concentrate our efforts. These are:
If you want to know more about our plans for the next three years please take a look at our latest Fire and Rescue Service Plan. You can see it on our website: www.hantsfire.gov.uk/plan which is also full of useful safety advice for all ages. Or you can call us on 023 8064 4000.
We have made significant progress during the last year, particularly in reviewing and changing the way we deliver our services. We have developed a more targeted approach to delivering our community safety activities, focusing on the more vulnerable and hard to reach residents, such as the elderly, people with disabilities, and families with young children.
In October 2008 Havant Fire Station began operating 24 hours a day, resulting in an increased number of personnel on station, more time for community based activities and improvement in response times. Havant Fire Station was the last of three in the county to make the change from day crewing to continuous crewing. Andover made the change in April 2007 and Winchester changed in October 2007.
A new community contact point opened in Portsmouth in October 2008. This provides a community asset with a public facing central hub for the delivery of community safety activity. It generates a wide variety of activities which are delivered by a combination of our dedicated community safety specialists and operational crews.
We also achieved level three of the Equality Standard for Local Government, which is an important milestone for us. Reaching level three gives recognition to the work that we are now doing to ensure that the services we deliver are adapted and developed to meet the diverse needs of our communities and those of our workforce.
We think so, and hope you will agree.
The budget for 2009/10 is £66.7 million. This is 3.2% more than the equivalent budget last year, with most of the increase arising from national pay awards for staff and the cost of inflation.
The Authority is committed to keeping council tax increases as low as possible so we constantly review how our services are delivered to make them more efficient. Forecast efficiency savings by March 2009 are £2.352 million or 3.8% of our spending in 2007/08. The impact of these ongoing savings on a Band D property is £4 and this compares well with the average saving for Fire Authorities of £2. In 2009/10 we plan to deliver efficiency savings of £1.217 million.
Here is how we arrived at our budget for the year ahead:
| Detail | £'000 |
|---|---|
| Budget for 2008/09 | 64,600 |
| Inflation | 1,835 |
| Service developments | 1,218 |
| Efficiency improvements | -1,217 |
| Contribution reserves | 223 |
| Budget for 2009/10 | 66,659 |
| Which is financed by: | |
| National business rates | 23,326 |
| Government grant | 5,384 |
| Surplus on collection funds | 237 |
| Balance from council tax | 37,712 |
We are increasing our part of the Council Tax this year by 3.6% well below the increase in state pensions. It is important that you know what this means in cash terms. For a Band D property the increase is just under four pence per week, or £2.07 per year.
The table below shows you exactly how much you will pay for your fire and rescue service in 2009/10.
| Band | Cost |
|---|---|
| Band A | £40.20 |
| Band B | £46.90 |
| Band C | £53.60 |
| Band D | £60.30 |
| Band E | £73.70 |
| Band F | £87.10 |
| Band G | £100.50 |
| Band H | £120.60 |
Full budget details and information about how your Council Tax is spent are available on our website: www.hantsfire.gov.uk/budget. If you have any questions, please either call us on 023 8062 6867 or email finance@hantsfire.gov.uk.
Over 80% of our budget is spent on employing staff - our most valuable resource. The remainder is spent on essential supplies and services, transport, property and information and communications technology, as well as funding our capital programmes.
Every year we spend about £2 million on our vehicle replacement programme, to ensure we have a modern, well-maintained fleet of vehicles. We are increasing our investment in building improvements.
In 2009 building work will start on the new fire station for Winchester.
| Detail | £'000 |
|---|---|
| Preventing incidents | 4,684 |
| Protecting life and property | 1,821 |
| Responding to emergencies | 58,265 |
| Borrowing costs | 936 |
| Capital paid for from revenue | 730 |
| Increase in reserves | 223 |
| Total | 66,659 |
Download the full version of the council tax leaflet 2009/10... 
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