Agenda item

Capital and Revenue Budgets 2012/2013

Minutes:

Background:

 

This report presented proposals for the capital and revenue budgets for 2012/2013. The Cabinet had considered initial budget proposals on 29 November 2011, which had been developed in accordance with the principles set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan 2012/2015. The implications of both the Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 and Local Government Finance Settlement were set out in the report, together with proposed measures to address the 8.3% cut in government funding (excluding the Council Tax freeze grant).

 

The report gave details of the changes made since the Financial Settlement was reported to Cabinet in December 2011, summarised the budget build and gave details of the directorate savings proposals.

 

It was noted that the proposed capital programme for 2012/2013 and future years, incorporating existing schemes and new funding announcements to date, was approaching £90.3 million. The net revenue budget for 2011/2012 amounted to £332.2 million, which it was reported would not require an increase in Council Tax but was predicated upon receipt of Government grant that equated to an equivalent 2.5% increase.

 

The report set out details of the Council Plan, which had been developed alongside the budget setting process to ensure the link between resource and business planning was maintained. This was considered as a separate item on the agenda.

 

Budget proposals had been referred to all the Overview and Scrutiny Committees for consideration. The Overview and Scrutiny Committees’ views were detailed in the report, with the recommendations of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee set out for Cabinet consideration.

 

The summarised Housing Revenue Account was set out in Appendix 4 to the report with the capital component in Appendix 2 to the report. A report setting out details of proposed rents for 2012/2013 was considered as a separate item on the agenda.

 

The schedule of fees and charges was attached at Appendix 5 to the report.

 

The report set out the requirements under equality legislation and a diversity impact assessment, that aggregated the impact of reductions in funding to services, was attached at Appendix 6 to the report.

 

The Cabinet agreed to consider this report as an urgent item to enable its recommendations to be forwarded to the Budget Council meeting on 23 February 2012.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Finance proposed a number of changes to the revenue budget (as set out in decision nos. 24 and 25/2012 below), which represented a call on reserves amounting to £1.175m. These would be financed by £340,000 of balances in ‘earmarked’ reserves that were no longer required, £200,000 from the unspent budgets allocated to the Sure Start centres and £143,000 from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) reserve, leaving £492,000 to be taken from the general reserve balance.

 

These measures would result in the funding for the Freedom Pass, free swimming, apprenticeships, graffiti removal and Christmas parking being built into future years base budgets. There were one-off funding streams for the 2012  year of celebration, opposition to the airport proposals, investment generation and additions to the DSG. The £300,000 call on reserves due to the Employment Matters Committee recommendation would be replicated in 2013/14 to support lower paid staff.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Finance also proposed the funding mechanism for the unfunded £3.397m of capital expenditure (see decision no. 23/2012).

 

An amended Appendix 3A (Children and Adults revenue budget build) was tabled at the meeting.

 

Decision number:

Decision:

 

The Cabinetnoted the recommendations from overview and scrutiny committees as summarised in Section 7 and detailed in Appendix 1 of this report.

22/2012

The Cabinet considered the recommendations from Employment Matters Committee described in Section 8.4 and recommended the following to Council:

(i)                 Increments are frozen for the financial years 2012/13 and 2013/14 with a review of the pay and grading structure being developed and consulted upon during this time;

(ii)               The Assistant Director, Organisational Services is given delegated authority to continue negotiations with the Trade Unions with a view to reaching a collective agreement on this proposal, which achieves, within the present financial constraints, some protection for lower paid staff

(iii)             If this collective agreement is not reached, that individual employees are asked whether they will agree to a variation of their contracts of employment for a freeze of their increments for two years

(iv)             For individuals who do not agree to this variation, that notice be given that their present contracts of employment are terminated and new contracts are offered stating their increments for 2012 and 2013 will be frozen

(v)               Incremental progression linked to competency levels/qualifications achieved should be retained for the following:

 

·          Social Workers covered by the Children’s Care Career Grade Scheme,

·          The progression from B1 grade to B2 grade for Care Managers in Adult Social Care who achieve the Post Qualifying 1 award; and

·          Soulbury staff eligible for SPA increments (Structured Professional Assessment).

23/2012

The Cabinet recommended to Council the capital budget proposals, as set out in Appendix 2 and that the unfunded expenditure of £3.397 million referred to at Table 4 be met from prudential borrowing, at a cost of £280,000 per annum to be met initially from unspecified savings from the Regeneration, Community and Culture Directorate.

24/2012

The Cabinet recommended to Council that the net revenue budget summarised at Table 9, amounting to £322.248 million, should be adopted and that this be funded by a nil increase in Council Tax for 2012/2013 with the equivalent Band D figure remaining at £1,119.15 with the following additions:

(i)                 an additional £221,000 of income by increasing the car parking tariff by an additional 10 pence (an increased tariff on all parking bands, with ½ hour bands being increased on a pro rata basis)

(ii)               Nelson Terrace car park - to increase the 0-1 hour band to 50p and the 1-2 hour band to 100p

(iii)             Residents parking charges will remain at £25.00, rather than the £26.00 set out in the report

(iv)             business permits to remain at current levels of £126.00

(v)               Note: with regards to the measures outlined at (i) to (iv) - car parking charges to be fixed for a further three years from 1 April 2013

(vi)             Freedom Pass - £250,000 – to be funded from additional income from parking charges (£221,000) the surplus shown in table 8 (£17,000) and a draw on reserves of £11,000

(vii)           Free Swimming - £200,000 – to be funded from reserves

(viii)         Apprenticeships - £100,000 – to be funded from reserves and £100,000 to be funded from the new Government Youth Contract scheme and EU funds. Funding to be released by the Chief Finance Officer in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance

(ix)             Graffiti Team - £70,000 – to be funded from reserves

(x)               Free parking at Christmas – £50,000 – to be funded from reserves

(xi)             Employment Matters Committee recommendation for lower paid staff - £300,000 – to be funded from reserves

(xii)           2012 celebrations – £200,000 – to be funded from reserves

(xiii)         Opposition to Airport proposals – £50,000 – to be funded from reserves. Funding to be released by the Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Leader

(xiv)        Investment in Medway - £50,000 – to be funded from reserves. Funding to be released by the Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Leader

(xv)          Key Stage 2/Governor Training - £143,000 – to be funded from the DSG/Standards Fund.

25/2012

The Cabinet recommended to Council the fees and charges set out at Appendix 5 to this report as amended by decision 24/2012 above and the amendment of the proposed “fee for a resident for service times” which should read £25 (bottom of page 46 of Appendix 5 - Fees and Charges refers).

26/2012

The Cabinet requested the Chief Finance Officer to calculate the formal requirements under Sections 30 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for resolution by Special Council on 23 February 2012.

27/2012

The Cabinet recommended Council to approve a delegation to the Chief Finance officer, in consultation with the Finance Portfolio Holder, to adjust budgets in respect of the transfer of Housing services to the Regeneration, Community and Culture directorate.

 

Reasons:

 

The constitution requires that Cabinet’s budget proposals must be forwarded to Council for consideration and approval.

 

The Council is required by statute to set a budget and council tax levels by 11 March each year.

Supporting documents: