Council Tax 2026/2027 (not boring, honest!)

Last year, the Council Tax letters sent out to residents had to be corrected at a cost of £200,000, which is equivalent to the annual Council Tax going to the Council paid by 86 Band D residents (£2,310.05 at 2026/2027 rates).

BBC: Council tax typo cost authority £200,000

Perhaps BCC should double check their letter against my report this year. If they had done that last year they could have saved the £200,000 which would pay for maintenance to the embarrassing "Our Common Ground" mural for 40 years.

Going Paperless for Council Tax bills

BCC could save a lot of money (£200,000 a year) if they sent out bills electronically, rather than by paper post, and it would help the environment as well. Very Green!

I "Asked Briz", and it looked like you cannot do this in Bristol.

But if you search for "Council Tax Bills" on bristol.gov.uk you get a link for a page where you can "go paperless".

BCC: Go paperless with your Council Tax bills

To be helpful, I "Rated the result", but I don't think I will be using "AskBriz" again.

In order to go paperless you have to register for a BCC Online Account. I tried to do this, but it wouldn't accept my details (which I checked and double checked).

So I failed to go paperless. I wonder how many people have managed to achieve this? (I think an FOI request might be needed).

Council Tax 2026/2027

These are the rates for a Band D property.

Council Tax Explained

Your council tax increase of 4.99% is helping to make sure we can continue running the services people in our city value, that these services are run fairly, and help is provided when you need it. We're also changing how some of our services are run to save money and increase income.

You can find my Council Tax report on BU Reports. Look for the "Council Tax" button. This will allow you to select your Band (A to H).

What about the Students?

The 2021 Census recorded 43,667 full-time students (aged 18+) living in Bristol.

Students do not pay Council Tax, and the increasing number is putting a bigger and bigger strain on the council coffers.

Bristol Uncovered: 71% more students are on their way to Southville

How many Council Tax Payers does it take to ........?

To help bring the Council Tax to life, I have produced a list of items alongside how many Band D Council tax payers (£2,310.05 at 2026/2027 rates) are needed to fund that spending.

The number of Band D equivalent properties, net of exemptions, reductions, and discounts, in the Tax Base for 2026/27 is 137,029 an increase of 0.75% Band D equivalent properties from 2025/26. Source: BCC

I have broken the comparisons down into different categories.

Fiasco

This means that it takes the annual council tax payments (going to the council) of 57,142 people to pay for the Bristol Beacon fiasco.

Wasted

These are items where the spending was a complete waste that could have been avoided.

Senior Employee Salaries

The salaries of Senior Employees at Bristol City Council.

Senior Employee Pension Contributions

Costs

A few examples of cost for different activities.

Spending Categories

And some of the spending categories for 2025.

For example it take 3,054 Council Tax Payers to cover the cost of Taxis in 2025.

You can find my Council Tax report on BU Reports. Look for the "Council Tax" button. You can explore the "Council Tax Comparison" data and find links to information about the items.