Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Finance and Support

1.      The feedback from consultation with the public, organisations and the Overview and Scrutiny Committees, have been considered and welcomed (detailed at Annex 1 and in the Corporate Plan 2010-2013 report elsewhere on the Cabinet agenda).

2.      The Council’s representations on the provisional formula grant settlement are noted (Annex 2 of the Cabinet report).

3.      The projected 2009/10 outturn position of £283k under spend (as at the end of December 2009) is noted.

4.      The issues identified through Equalities Impact Screening and Assessments are noted (Annex 6 of the Cabinet report).

5.      The changes to the proposed budget (detailed at Annex 3 of the Cabinet report), in light of the consultation responses, equalities issues and the final formula grant settlement, are agreed.

6.      The Cabinet acknowledges the issues and risks detailed in the Section 151 Officer’s statement on the robustness of estimates and the adequacy of the reserves (Annex 8 of the Cabinet report).

7.      The draft Fees and Charges set out in Annex 10 of the Cabinet report are noted.

8.      Cabinet has agreed that the additional £124k LABGI awarded in 2009/10, together with any remaining unallocated LABGI funding in the Corporate Initiatives Reserve at the end of 2009/10 and any new allocation for 2010/11 are to be set aside in an earmarked reserve for Regeneration and Development for one off purposes.

9.      Council is to be recommended to delegate authority to the Chief Executive and Director of Finance and Support to implement all budget options and restructurings.

10. Authority is to be delegated to the Director of Finance and Support in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance, and where appropriate the relevant Director and Portfolio Holder to:

·              transfer monies from earmarked reserves should that become necessary during the financial year.

·              to update the budget tables and annexes, prior to Council should any further changes be necessary.

·              to update prudential indicators in both the Prudential Indicators report and Treasury Strategy report, prior to Council for any budget changes that impact on these.

11. A General Fund budget for 2010/11 of £32.96m (excluding parishes), is to be recommended to the Council (detailed in Annex 4 of the cabinet report) for its own purposes.

12. The Council is to be recommended to confirm the reserves strategy of protecting balances wherever possible to allow the option of supporting future years’ budgets, aiming for a minimum level of unallocated general fund reserves of £2.195m at the end of 2010/11 having regard to the outcome of the financial risk assessment and remaining at this level over the medium term.

13. The Council is to be recommended to increase the Council Tax by 2.47% for 2010/11 for its own purposes, thus excluding county, police, and parish precepts.

Councillor Clarke addressed Cabinet. He requested that Standing Orders be suspended for the following night’s Full Council meeting so that members could have a full debate on the budget. He then commented that he had attended the public consultation meetings and it was his opinion that the way the budget was presented was deceitful and presented efficiency savings that included job reductions and cuts to services.  He claimed that the job losses were hidden within restructures outlined in the report and asked for details of which jobs were to be cut.

In response to a question from Councillor PD Varnsverry, Councillor Clarke confirmed that he had attended one public consultation meeting.

Councillor Mildren addressed Cabinet. He referred to a recent article in the Times newspaper that reported a survey suggesting that councils were setting low council tax increases at the expense of jobs and service cuts. He felt that it was inevitable that jobs would be lost so that others in post could have their contracts fulfilled.  He forecast more of the same for coming years.

Councillor Perkins presented the report to Cabinet and explained its purpose. He pointed out that the proposed council tax increase of 2.47% was significantly lower than the average increase of 3% across the county.  He expressed concern that the Government calculations for funding were based on inaccurate population figures and also that the underfunding of the Government’s scheme for concessionary fares added extra pressure. He explained that the public had been listened to and highlighted some of the changes that had been made to the original proposals presented to Cabinet in December. He accepted that there were risks in delivering a budget of this nature but these had to be managed in order to improve the Council.  He acknowledged that Government funding would reduce over the future and this had been addressed in the budget. He reminded Cabinet that there was a limited amount of money available and that the public did not want excessive rises in taxation.  He thanked the Directors and Finance teams for their delivery of the budget and was confident that services would continue to be delivered more effectively.

Councillor B Markham refuted the claim of a hidden agenda, referring again to the changes made as a result of the public consultations.  Councillor Perkins reminded Cabinet that the draft budget had contained 12 pages of detail, which he felt gave broad messages about the efficiency and value for money offered by the Council.  Councillor PD Varnsverry pointed out that the consultation had been the most thorough in recent history and that the public had been listened to, especially in relation to their concerns about community centre funding.

Summing up, Councillor B Hoare commented that the Council had to be mindful of people’s income and the level of council tax was a key factor.  Job losses and service reductions were not guaranteed outcomes if savings could be made to address inefficiencies in an organisation.  He also thanked officers for their work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8