NYPA sets Policing Budget for 2010/11 and council tax levels
North Yorkshire Police Authority set the policing budget for 2010/11 at £139.7 million on Friday 5 February 2010. This is an increase on the current year's budget of £3.98 million and will mean an increase of 2.7% (£5.38 per year for a Band D property) on the Police element (precept) of the council tax.
The precept increase means that the average Band D property will pay £204.55 during 2010/11 for the North Yorkshire Police Service - equivalent to £3.93 each week. This precept will raise £61m from residents with £78.6m being received from Government grants (one of the lowest grants per head given nationally).
Jane Kenyon, Chairman of the North Yorkshire Police Authority, said: "The members of North Yorkshire Police Authority faced a difficult decision today. We know from the conversations we have had with communities and representatives as well as the results of the consultation undertaken that residents could not sustain an increase above this level. This increase represents an additional 10p per week for the average Band D household, but that should allow the Chief Constable and his team to continue developing Safer Neighbourhoods and sustain or even reduce further the current low levels of recorded crime and anti-social behaviour issues.
"In drawing up this budget, significant levels of savings have been factored in. However, we have not reduced the budget for Police Officers within North Yorkshire Police and indeed a recruitment campaign for new Police Officers begins on Monday 8 February to replenish the people who have left us recently.
"Whatever the outcome was of today's debate, we have always known that, in future years, we will be looking towards a longer term shortfall in funding; potentially a significant shortfall of around £14m by 2014/15 if the current assumptions are proven. However, the Chief Constable and the Authority are working hard to plan for this situation and we are confident that we can address the position. One thing is for sure – we will not reduce the front-line of the police service."
"We and the force have spent a long time achieving the levels of service that communities currently enjoy and on behalf of those communities, we will ensure they are maintained, or even improved upon further."
Grahame Maxwell, Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, said:
"I welcome the support that the Authority have given by their decision. Working with the Authority and our communities and partners we will maximize that support by continuing our focus on keeping North Yorkshire and the City of York one of the safest counties to live in, actively tackling anti social behaviour and focusing our resources on front line service delivery.
"We know that we face significant financial challenges in the future but this support and our commitment to make savings while maintaining our performance means that we can progress our medium term plans. You can be confident that we will make the investments we need in our equipment and infrastructure and seek every opportunity to achieve value for money from the resources we have."
