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The Service
Council Tax Information - 2008/2009...
Our corporate aims are at the heart of everything we do. They represent what we intend to do to reduce risk in our local communities and make Hampshire a safer place to live, work and visit.
We aim to:
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 achieved our ambitious target to carry out 20,000 Home Fire Safety Visits in Hampshire during the last year, helping to care for and protect people living in our local communities. Next year we will be focusing our resources towards the more vulnerable and harder to reach residents, such as the elderly, people with disabilities and families with young children.
During the last year we launched our Arson Task Force, established in conjunction with Hampshire Constabulary. For the first time we have a specialist detection dog and handler, used to identify the use of ignitable fluids at scenes of deliberate or suspicious fires. Since its introduction, this partnership has already shown positive benefits in terms of arson reduction, arson detection and conviction rates.
We have been determined to achieve a significant reduction in the number of unwanted Automatic Fire Alarms we attend as they divert our resources away from real emergencies. Since setting up a specialist team to tackle this problem, we are extremely proud to have achieved an impressive 25% reduction in calls. Apart from the reduction in unwanted calls, it has also resulted in considerable resource savings.
Following an external audit, we are thrilled that the Service was awarded Investors in People accreditation in December 2007. This national award is recognition of the hard work and effort of all staff across the Service.
We think so, and hope you will agree.
The budget for 2008/09 is £64.6 million. This is 3.4% more than the equivalent budget last year, with most of the increase arising from national pay awards for staff and the cost of inflation. Additional money has also been provided for community safety improvements in the home and other Service needs.
The Authority is committed to keeping Council Tax increases as low as possible so we have reviewed how some of our services are delivered to make them more efficient. We have also been able to make savings due to the success of our community safety work in reducing demand for our services; in particular driving down the number of false alarms and incidences of arson.
Here is how we arrived at our budget for the year ahead:
| Detail | £'000 |
|---|---|
| Budget for 2007/08 | 62,450 |
| Inflation pay and prices | 1,313 |
| Service developments | 396 |
| Replenish/adjust reserves | 441 |
| Budget for 2008/09 | 64,600 |
| Which is financed by: | |
| National business rates | 24,786 |
| Government grant | 3,450 |
| Surplus on collection funds | 163 |
| Balance from council tax | 36,201 |
We are increasing our Council Tax this year by 3.85% which is below the rate of state pension increase. It is important that you know what this means in cash terms. For a Band D property the increase is just over four pence per week (or £2.16 per year). The table below shows you exactly how much you will pay for your fire and rescue service in 2008/09:
| Band | Cost |
|---|---|
| Band A | £38.82 |
| Band B | £45.29 |
| Band C | £51.76 |
| Band D | £58.23 |
| Band E | £71.17 |
| Band F | £84.11 |
| Band G | £97.05 |
| Band H | £116.46 |
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 refer to our contact details.
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 to fund 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 2007 we completed the building of a new vehicle workshop facility at our Headquarters in Eastleigh, making the previous site at Winnall available for the development of a new fire station for Winchester in 2008/09.
| Detail | £'000 |
|---|---|
| Preventing incidents | 4,021 |
| Protecting life and property | 2,664 |
| Responding to emergencies | 55,369 |
| Borrowing costs | 1,375 |
| Capital paid for from revenue | 730 |
| Movement on reserves | 441 |
| Total | 64,600 |
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