Tax bill hike for police budget amid plan to put more bobbies on the beat
Taxpayers will have to pay more to fund Gloucestershire police from April as the average bill is going up by almost six per cent but extra neighbourhood officers will be recruited.
Police and crime commissioner Chris Nelson presented earlier this week the £184.7m budget which he feels is the “toughest” he has had to deal with during his five years in the role.
The portion of the council tax bills which goes towards funding Gloucestershire Constabulary will rise 5.7 per cent to £340.58 for band D properties in the next financial year.
Mr Nelson spoke about the financial challenges the force has faced over the last year at the police and crime panel on February 2.
He said there has been about £12m in cuts due to the cumulative impact of the funding formula for police forces and underfunding of pay awards and incremental pay rises.
Mr Nelson also said “they had no money for capital improvements for three or four years”.
And the cuts equate to 80 police staff as well as overtime for officers and staff.
Mr Nelson also said the force was told in December they would receive £2.3m less than they had expected. And as a result they had applied to increase the precept up to £25 to cover the shortfall.
However, this was not granted but they have been granted permission to raise the precept to £18.5.
“It still leaves us short and we have no antisocial behaviour hotspot money”, the Conservative added.
“Over the last couple of years we’ve had a million each year.”
He told the meeting the force will have to make £20m in savings over the next four years with £9m in the first year.
Councillors were also told that 13 more neighbourhood police officers would be recruited.
However, Mr Nelson said they may have to find the shortfall in funding for around five or six officers.
“That is going to add to the need to find savings,” he said. “But obviously we don’t want to miss out on the 40 per cent funding available.
“It’s a lesser of two evils.”
Councillor Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) said he supported the policy as it would mean the force would have 36 neighbourhood police officers in total.
“I’d encourage that police to be implemented,” he said. “Neighbourhood policing is really important, it’s one of the things our communities want having police officers walking the beat.”
“Dealing with neighbourhood issues is a critical thing, it’s one of the things the public want to see happen.”
Mr Nelson agreed and said the feedback he gets from the public is they “want extra officers on the beat”.
Councillor Richard Dean (G, Dursley) said there were 11 areas where there will be similar tax increases but Gloucestershire was the highest.
“What’s going on in Gloucestershire that’s not going on elsewhere?”
Mr Nelson said it was an interesting question and explained the vast majority of forces are increasing the precept by the maximum £15 allowed.
He said the other ten who asked to go over the maximum were being allowed to charge £18.50 extra.
“The funding formula tends to punish low crime, rural, small forces and we are one of the smallest in the country,” he said.
The panel voted to support the budget with recommendations to give regular updates on the force’s ICT, estates and new operating model.
They also asked for more information on preventive work being done to tackle inequity and improve trust in policing.