Issue - meetings

The Deputy Chief Executive / Director of Customer and Corporate Services to present a report which seeks approval for the council’s inclusion in the 100% business rates retention pilot in 2018-19, should the application submitted in October be successful.

Resolved:  That City of York Council’s inclusion in the 100% business rates retention pilot in 2018/19 be approved, should the Leeds City Region (LCR) submission be successful.

Reason:     To improve the financial stability of the council and the LCR, by providing greater capacity to invest in improvement and transformation.

The Deputy Chief Executive / Director of Customer and Corporate Services presented a report which sought approval for the council’s inclusion in the 100% business rates retention pilot, subject to the success of the application submitted jointly with the other current members of the Leeds City Region (LCR) business rates pool in October 2017.

Under the pilot scheme, which would run for one year, the council and the LCR would each retain 50% of growth in business rates income, compared to 27% and 23% under the current scheme. There would also be additional benefits for the region and for member authorities, as outlined in paragraph 16 of the report.

Members had the option to approve or reject the council’s inclusion in the pilot; however, should they reject it the current LCR pool arrangements would be revoked and there would be no opportunity to reinstate them for 2018/19.

Resolved:  That City of York Council’s inclusion in the 100% business rates retention pilot in 2018/19 be approved, should the Leeds City Region (LCR) submission be successful.

Reason:     To improve the financial stability of the council and the LCR, by providing greater capacity to invest in improvement and transformation.