Agenda item

Background:

The Cabinet agreed to accept this report as an urgent item to enable its recommendations to be forwarded to the Council Budget meeting on 25 February 2016. It was not possible to include this report in the main agenda as it was decided to wait for the anticipated announcement of the Final Settlement on 3 February 2016.  In the event, this did not transpire.

This report presented proposals for the capital and revenue budgets for 2016/2017.

It was noted that the Cabinet had considered initial budget proposals on 24 November 2015, which had been developed in accordance with the principles set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan which had identified a potential revenue shortfall of some £13.8 million for 2016/2017.

It was noted that under new arrangements announced in the Spending Review 2015 upper tier local authorities would be able to increase council tax by up to 4.0%, providing that the additional 2.0% was ring-fenced for social care.  The budget proposed by Cabinet would be based upon the Council availing itself of this additional flexibility and raising council tax by 3.994% in 2016/17.

The report provided details of the revenue budget proposals noting that that these would almost have balanced the 2016/17 budget. However, an issue created by the increase in the Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) appeals provision meant that there was still a need to identify further savings to close the residual £3.363 million gap in 2016/17.  Options were being considered and it was anticipated that the budget presented to Council on 25 February 2016 would be balanced and be underpinned by a robust set of assumptions. 

The proposed capital programme for 2016/2017, incorporating existing schemes and anticipated funding allocations, was £144.501 million. An overall summary and a summary by directorate of the proposed capital programme were attached at Appendix 4 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 in Appendix 1 to the report.

The schedule of fees and charges was set out in Appendix 6 to the report.

The report set out the requirements under equality legislation and it was noted that Diversity Impact Assessments would be completed for the budget proposals in advance of Full Council on 25 February 2016.

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.