Second home owners in Pembrokeshire, in addition to paying a higher council tax, have lowered local residents’ police tax bills, a report for members of the county council will hear tomorrow.

The police precept for each non-second-home Band D property would increase by nearly £6 without a second homes premium in Pembrokeshire, members of the council’s Governance and Audit Committee heard recently.

The 100 per cent second homes premium in Pembrokeshire is also used for payment of the police precept aspect of the overall council tax bill.

Pembrokeshire’s full council meeting tomorrow, March 2, will consider a recommendation from the recent Governance and Audit Committee relating to a previous Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Mark Carter.

The Notice of Motion (NoM) on the police precept aspect of the overall council tax bill for second homes and empty properties was recently submitted by Cllr Carter, calling for an examination of the “correctness and legality” of the council collecting a premium rate on the police precept.

He calculated that amounted to an additional £1.268m being handed to police.

He added: “I would also request that the committee investigates how Dyfed Powys Police spends this extra money, how this sum of money mitigates the effects of second and empty homes in this county and benefits its residents.”

A report for committee members at the time clarified that the additional revenue was not handed over to Dyfed-Powys Police.

It stated: “Whilst the introduction of the premiums does not increase the overall funding for Dyfed-Powys Police, it does change the proportion of their costs that Pembrokeshire is expected to fund.”

This means the police precept for a non-second-home average Band D property would increase from £290.16 to £296.12 without a second homes tax premium, committee members heard.

Committee members voted to not adopt Cllr Carter’s motion after the clarifying information, recommending full council did the same.

The Notice of Motion now comes before full council, meeting tomorrow, with a recommendation it not be adopted; a report referring to the clarifications made in the earlier committee.

The report for councillors states: “The Committee concluded that although it understood why the Notice of Motion had been brought forward, the main premise of the Notice of Motion that the Dyfed Powys Police were receiving additional money was not valid.”

Council tax base changes due to any premiums or changes in the other three billing authorities [Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Powys] have an impact on the precept due from Pembrokeshire to Dyfed-Powys.

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