Agenda item

The Committee gave consideration to the report and appendices (at pages 36 - 49) as delivered and summarised by the Interim Chief Finance Officer (Section 151 Officer) which should be read together with these minutes as a composite document.

The Interim Chief Finance Officer reported that the overall revised General Fund financial position for 2016/17 and Draft Budget for 2017/18 was predicated on the requirement incumbent upon Council to make a total of c. £1.4m efficiency savings by 2020 due to the progressive nature of cuts to the Revenue Support Grant (RSG).

The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) was said to have set a target of £860k in 2017/18, of which £710k of efficiency saving had already been found with the remaining £150k to be borrowed from General Reserves to balance the budget. It was added that no significant cuts to frontline services or redundancies were anticipated in 2017/18 but advised that, and in conjunction with the work being undertaken by the Change Management Committee in relation to the Four-Year Efficiency Plan, these heads were not exempt from future reconsideration in 2018/19.

Councillor J W Boyce moved the recommendations en bloc as set out at paragraphs 2.1 to 2.4 of the report (at page 36).

Councillor M L Darr seconded the recommendations.

Councillor B Dave raised a number of enquires, namely:

(a)    whether the report made reference to the MTFS as approved in September 2016 or a revised version;

(b)   the absence of any figures in relation to capital receipts and reference to future capital schemes at paragraph 3.18 (at page 43); and

(c)    an explanation as to the notable budget fluctuations in net committee expenditure between financial years 2016/17 and 2017/18 at appendix 1 (at page 45).

He expressed his reservations about borrowing against the General Reserves and invited Officers to explore alternative options to bridge the funding gap. The Member announced that, for the aforementioned reason, he was to abstain from voting.

The Interim Chief Finance Officer advised, accordingly:

(a)    the report made reference to the MTFS as approved in September 2016 and that the MTFS was to be updated after the next meeting of the Council to be held on 21 February 2017 at which 2017/18 Council Tax and the Budget was to be set;

(b)   the financial information provided was necessarily based on a number of assumptions in respect of routine levels of the borrowing/re-paying of capital, that the Council was carefully considering its existing capital commitments and that no new capital schemes were to be proposed unless funding was to made available on a case-by-case basis;

(c)    a detailed breakdown of net committee expenditure explaining budget fluctuations would be provided to Members outside the meeting in due course.

Councillor L A Bentley enquired as to: the lengh of time New Homes Bonus (NHB) legacy payments were to continue to be paid; and if there was any systematic or progressive reduction in the allocation of NHB payments awarded over time.

The Interim Chief Finance Officer advised NHB legacy payments were to reduce year-on-year from 6 to 5 years in 2017/18, then to 4 years in 2018/19 etc. He advised that from April 2017, no NHB payments were be made to local authorities whose housing growth was less than 0.4% and from April 2018, NHB payments were to be withheld from local authorities not supporting housing growth, including the non-payment or reduced payment for dwellings built subsequent to a successful appeal. The Council’s NHB was reported to have reduced by £37,000 for 2017/18.

Councillor J W Boyce commended Officers for the work undertaken. He reiterated the Draft Budget’s resilience in there being no significant cuts to frontline services or redundancies anticipated. It was acknowledged that Members should be notified as soon as reasonable practicable when a revised version of MTFS is published. It was said that a capital programme was to be brought forward in either February or June 2017 that was to be revenue-neutral in terms of agreements made pursuant to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 106 (“s106 agreements”). The Member restated concerns regarding NHB’s. The Member stated that to reduce Reserve General Fund levels in line with reducing turnover was a prudent and sensible decision as recommended by the Government. Over the coming years, it was said that service areas would need to be carefully re/assessed in addition to exploring opportunities to invest in Council services as a means to save.

RESOLVED THAT:

(i)        The overall revised General Fund revenues budget position for 2016/17 (Appendices 1 and 2) be considered and approved;

(ii)       The overall draft General Fund revenue Budget for 2017/18 (Appendices 1 and 3) be recommended in principle to Council;

(iii)      The use of reserves (as outlined in Appendix 4) be approved; and

(iv)      The Council to remain in the Business Rate Pool for 2017/18 be agreed.

Votes For                   8

Votes Against            0

Abstentions               4