Agenda item

Capital and Revenue Budgets 2023/24

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 23 February 2023.

 

This report presented proposals for the capital and revenue budgets for 2023/2024. It was noted that the Cabinet had considered initial budget proposals on 15 November 2022, which had identified a potential revenue shortfall of £28.683million in 2023/2024.

 

The report stated that at the time of writing, there was still a deficit of £2.026millionto resolve. Options were being considered to address this prior to the Council’s budget setting meeting on 23 February 2023 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 £427.356 million, with a further £2.070million estimated for proposed additions to the programme for the next financial year, as detailed at section 14 of 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 together with the recommendations of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee (25 January 2023) 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 23 February 2023.

 

 Decision

number:

 

Decision:

 

 

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

 

22/2023

The Cabinet recommended to Full Council that the net revenue budget summarised at Appendix 2, should be set at £390.205million, and that this should be funded by a 4.994% increase in Council Tax for 2023/24 with the equivalent Band D figure at £1671.23 per annum.

 

23/2023

The Cabinet recommended to Full Council the transfer of £3million from general reserves to a new earmarked reserve, to be used in the event the Deficit Recovery Plan did not reduce the DSG Deficit in line with the agreement with the Safety Valve Intervention Programme, as set out in Section 4.8.3 of the report.

 

24/2023

The Cabinet agreed to the cessation of funding to landlords to provide sheltered housing, with a six month notice period from 1 April 2023, as set out in Section 7.4 of the report.

 

 

The Cabinet noted that on 24 January 2023, Employment Matters Committee recommended to Full Council:

·    a general cost of living increase of £1,000 (pro-rata) for all staff,

·    creation of a gap in pay ranges 1-4 through the introduction of a £500 gap, as detailed in paragraphs 7.6-7.8 of that report, and

·    Full Council delegate to the Chief Executive the authority to agree the competency-based awards for staff assessed under MedPay at Levels 1A and 1B.

 

25/2023

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

 

26/2023

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

 

27/2023

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

 

28/2023

The Cabinet requested the Chief Operating 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 2023.

 

 

The Cabinet noted its earlier recommendation to Full Council (decision 135/2022 refers) that when setting the Council Tax, the following changes would be applied to Council premia in line with the Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Act 2018, as set out in paragraph 4.4.3 of the report:

·     the 100% premium for long-term empty properties may be brought forward so that it can commence after being empty for one year rather than two; and

·     a 100% premium may be charged for properties that are unoccupied but furnished (referred to as second homes).

 

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: