Issue - meetings

This report sets out the final proposals for the approval of the capital and revenue budgets, rent increases and council tax for 2014/2015 as proposed by Cabinet.

Discussion:

This report presented proposals for the capital and revenue budgets and the housing revenue account (HRA) for 2014/2015.

The Cabinet had considered initial budget proposals on 26 November 2013, which had been developed in accordance with the principles set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2013/2016. In accordance with the budget and policy framework rules within the Constitution the Overview and Scrutiny Committees had then considered the Cabinet’s proposals prior to Cabinet’s consideration of the draft budget on 11 February 2014. It was noted that the report had incorporated the implications of the Final Settlement, which had been announced on 5 February 2014.

The report set out the Council’s requirements under equality legislation and a Diversity Impact Assessment, that aggregated the impact for each of the services affected by the proposed budget changes, was attached at Appendix 9 to the report. This overarching form identified five services where there may be a potential adverse impact on some protected characteristic groups and Diversity Impact Assessments for these services were attached at Appendices 9A to 9C of the report. It was noted that to mitigate against any unintentional and unidentified impact, monitoring would continue and if necessary be reported through quarterly monitoring.

A revised Appendix 7 to the report had been circulated to Members in Supplementary Agenda No.1, which set out a corrected figure at 3 (a) of the appendix. An addendum report had been tabled at the meeting in Supplementary Agenda No.2 which provided details of the views and recommendations of the Employment Matters Committee, which considered a pay claim from the trade unions on 18February 2014.

Councillor Jarrett, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Deputy Leader, supported by Councillor Rodney Chambers, Leader of the Council, proposed the recommendations as set out in the main report, with the exception of recommendations 23.1, 23.2, 23.3 and 23.9 which were revised to reflect the following additions/variations:

i)          That the Council approve the recommendation of Employment Matters Committee on 6 February 2014 to adopt option 4 of the revised Pay and Grade structures, subject to the pause on the implementation of the pay progression element, as agreed by the Employment Matters Committee on 18 February 2014. That the Council agree that the pay claim as submitted by the Trade Unions be rejected on the basis that it represented £4 million recurring cost that the Council did not have.

ii)         the following measures to remove the £81,000 deficit, as set out in Table 10 of the report:

iii)            Additions to the Capital programme funded from prudential borrowing and additional revenue identified as:

·        New Homes Bonus Returned grant £120,000;

·        Additional business rates income £450,000; and

·        2013/2014 Collection Fund Surplus of £800,000.

*Expenditure on this will be in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder.

iv)                the following  ...  view the full minutes text for item 868

Background:

This report and supporting addendum reports presented proposals for the capital and revenue budgets for 2014/2015.

It was noted that the Cabinet had considered initial budget proposals on 26 November 2013, which had been developed in accordance with the principles set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan 2014/2017. It was noted that considerable effort had been made to achieve a balanced budget without seriously impacting on direct services to the public and that the proposed revenue budget of £331.418 million was based on a Council Tax increase of 1.995%.

It was noted following the publication of the Cabinet agenda that the Final Local Government Finance Settlement had been announced on 5 February 2014 and details of this was set out in the addendum report (included within Supplementary Agenda No.3). It was reported that the settlement presented a marginally favourable position for the Council to that set out in the main report, with a £12,577 increase in the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) to be received in 2014/2015. RSG for 2015/2016 was unchanged from the Provisional Settlement. The Baseline Funding for business rates for both 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 was as announced in the Provisional Settlement and again consistent with the figures quoted in the main report.

Members were advised that the revised budget gap to be closed before Council on 20 February 2014 was now £81,000.

The Cabinet report noted that the budget build assumed a nil increase in pay for staff and a continued freeze on increments. Proposals to amend the present pay structure, in tandem with a review of grades and assimilation to the new structure, had been reported to the Employment Matters Committee on 6 February 2014, together with the results of negotiations with Trade Unions. The addendum report set out details of the discussion at the Committee, as well as the Committee’s recommendations to Council.

The proposed capital programme for 2014/2015, incorporating existing schemes and anticipated grant allocations, was £53.977 million. An overall summary and a summary by directorate of the proposed capital programme were attached at Appendix 2 to the report.

It was noted that 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 within an addendum report.

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 2014/2015 was considered as a separate item on the agenda. Details of a budget consultation meeting with tenants on 31 January 2014 were included within the addendum report.

The schedule of fees and charges (Appendix 5 to the report) had been circulated within Supplementary Agenda No. 1 and revised pages, which included an additional charge relating to Dog Control Orders and replacement fees for the Children and Adults Directorate, were tabled  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10