The cost of Policing in Dorset is going up an extra £1.08 a month from April if you live in a band D property.
Dorset’s Police and Crime Panel have unanimously approved plans to increase the amount of money residents in the county pay for their policing service.
But Police and Crime Commissioner for the county, David Sidwick, says the unfairness of the Government’s police funding formula will see Dorset at least £5m short in the coming financial year – even with the maximum allowable increase in the force share of the council tax.
He says he has been ‘banging on’ at the Government to change the formula since taking up the post almost five years ago.
“Just flippin’ well get on and do it.. all we get is a promise that it will be sorted out” he told Thursday’s Dorset Police and Crime Panel meeting.
The panel unanimously agreed a £13 per year increase for the average Band D home, the maximum allowed, pushing the annual payment as part of the police share of the council tax to £293.58p.
Mr Sidwick said the realistic figure should have been £30 to allow for some growth and service improvements.
He said that the Government’s funding formula, which provides roughly half of the force income, amounted to what he described as “perverse alchemy” – giving much more money to urban forces and taking little, or no account, of the higher costs for forces such as Dorset which is more expensive to police because of its rural nature and because of the massive influx of visitors in the summer months.
He said that with a fairer funding formula he would like to have seen the force take on an extra 70 police officers, something which was now unlikely to be delivered, and might also have been able to reduce losses from staff posts which were likely to go through money saving reviews.
The Police and Crime Commissioner said the Chief Constable, in consultation with his office, would now have to continue looking for productivity and efficiency savings throughout the coming year, rather than plan for growth.
Asked by panel chairman, Mike Short, whether the need for savings would impair the safety of council taxpayer he replied “absolutely not.”
Questions were asked during the meeting about the £660,000 paid out each year in interest charges on £16m on debt.
Mr Sidwick said the borrowing had been necessary to support improvements to buildings, including leaking police station roofs, new boilers and solar panels, upgrades in IT equipment and new vehicles.
“People need places to work from, they need equipment and borrowing was the only way, in some cases, to deal with that. We have always tried to achieve the best borrowing rate possible.”
One of the biggest capital costs for the force has been a £14.5million new headquarters building at the force headquarters at Winfrith.
David Sidwick: “Firstly, I want to thank each of the 1,984 people who responded to share their thoughts on police funding and precept.
“I want to be clear that asking the residents of Dorset for more money is not something I wanted to do, especially during a time when so many are feeling the pinch.
“But to ensure Dorset remains one of the safest places in the country, we need to be able to maintain our current position in order to continue driving down crime and protecting people from harm.
“Whether this is by tackling the issue of drugs through more prevention, treatment and tough enforcement with Operation Scorpion and Operation Viper, launching more rural crime initiatives like the Rural Mounted Volunteers or bringing in more funding money than ever for new projects towards the protection of women and girls against violence and anti-social behaviour, I am committed to ensuring every penny counts.
“Since I became Police and Crime Commissioner, I have relentlessly lobbied for a fairer funding deal for Dorset. I want to assure you I will continue to raise this issue until we see issues of sparsity and seasonality addressed in the way our Force is funded centrally.
“I will continue to fight to make Dorset the safest county for all of us. Achieving a better funding deal is integral to delivering the Police and Crime Plan, which means being tough on crime, keeping people safe and putting victims first.”
Dorset Police Chief Constable Amanda Pearson added: “Today’s agreement of the budget means we can now focus firmly on the year ahead and how we as a force are going to deliver an even better policing service to the communities of Dorset.
“I thank the Commissioner, the panel, and our communities for their support in increasing the precept – we will make every penny count.
“Dorset is one of the safest areas in the country, but we must not be complacent and should always focus on improvement to ensure we strive to be the safest county in the country.
“Our purpose continues to commit to being tough on crime, relentlessly pursuing those criminals who cause the most harm to our communities, keeping people safe and putting victims first.”
Pic – Police and crime commissioner David Sidwick delivering his budget speech