Agenda item

Capital and Revenue Budgets 2022/23

Minutes:

Background:

 

The Cabinet accepted the report as urgent to enable consideration of the matter at the earliest opportunity given that the final budget was due to be submitted to the next scheduled Council meeting on 24 February 2022.

 

This report presented proposals for the capital and revenue budgets for 2022/2023. It was noted that the Cabinet had considered initial budget proposals on 16 November 2021, which had identified a potential revenue shortfall of £18.176million in 2022/2023.

 

The report stated that at time of writing, there was still a deficit of £1.609 million to resolve. Options were being considered to address this prior to the Council’s budget setting meeting on 24 February 2022 and if measures to address the deficit were not identified, then it would need to be met from the Council’s reserves.

 

The current capital programme for 2022/2023 was £483.791million, with a further £17.350million estimated for proposed additions to the programme for the next financial year, as detailed at section 13 of the report. It was also proposed to add £2.030 million to the revenue budget through the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts.

 

It was noted that budget proposals had been referred to all the Overview and Scrutiny Committees for consideration. The Overview and Scrutiny Committees’ views together with the recommendations of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee (25 January 2022) were set out for Cabinet at Appendix 1 to the report.

 

The report set out the requirements under equality legislation and it was noted that an overarching Diversity Impact Assessment would be included in the budget report to Full Council on 24 February 2022.

 

Decision number:

Decision:

The Cabinet noted the comments from overview and scrutiny committees as summarised in Appendix 1 to this report.

16/2022

The Cabinet recommended to Council that the net revenue budget summarised at Appendix 2, should be set at £351.076million, and that this should be funded by a 2.994% increase in Council Tax for 2022/23 with the equivalent Band D figure at £1591.74.

17/2022

The Cabinet agreed that the recruitment agency, previously transferred to Kyndi Ltd, be transferred back to Medway Council with effect from 1 April 2022 and that authority be delegated to the Chief Finance Officer to effect this transfer.

18/2022

The Cabinet recommended to Council the capital budget proposals, as set out in Table 7.

19/2022

The Cabinet recommended to Council that the balance of the SEN School scheme of £2,467,626 be removed from the capital programme as set out in paragraph 13.5 of this report.

20/2022

The Cabinet recommended to Council the fees and charges set out at Appendix 7 to this report.

21/2022

The Cabinet recommended to Council the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy set out at Appendix 8 to this report

22/2022

The Cabinet recommended to Council that the following schemes in the current capital programme, funded through the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts be removed from the capital programme and instead reflected in the 2021/22 revenue budget:

·       9X576 Children’s Improvement Programme – £612,351,

·       9C077 Transformation Flexible Use of Capital Receipts – £2,371,602, and

·       9C779 Feasibility Studies Flexible Use of Capital Receipts – £500,000.

23/2022

The Cabinet recommended Full Council to approve the revised Senior Management Structure set out at Appendix 9.

24/2022

The Cabinet recommended to Full Council the creation of a new band within the pay structure as set out in Appendix 10, and to note that Directors will undertake reorganisations for their respective Directorates as set out in paragraph 9.3 of the report. This range will attract the same special allowance as the current Heads of Service.

25/2022

The Chief Finance Officer was requested to calculate the formal requirements under Sections 30 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for resolution by Special Council on 24 February 2022.

 

Reasons:

 

The Constitution required that Cabinet’s budget proposals must be referred 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: