At its meeting on 31 January 2018 the Executive Committee considered the 2018/19 budget and RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that:

1.      a net budget of £8,732,790 be APPROVED.

2.      a Band D Council Tax of £114.36, an increase of £5.00 per annum, be APPROVED. 

3.      the use of New Homes Bonus, as proposed in Paragraph 3.5, be APPROVED.

4.      the Capital Programme, as proposed in Appendix A to the report, be APPROVED.

5.      the Capital Prudential Indicators, as proposed in Appendix B to the report, be APPROVED.

6.      the annual Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) statement, as contained in Appendix B to the report, be APPROVED.

7.      the 2018/19 Treasury Management Strategy, as proposed in Appendix C to the report, be APPROVED.

8.      the 2018/19 Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy, as proposed in Appendix D to the report, be APPROVED.

9.      the Council’s involvement in a 100% Retained Business Rates Pilot in Gloucestershire for 2018/19, as detailed in Appendix E to the report, be NOTED.

(If a Councillor intends to move a Motion or Amendment in relation to the Council’s annual budget, the text of the proposed Motion or Amendment must be submitted in writing to the Borough Solicitor by 9.00am on the working day preceding the day of the Council meeting).

82.1           At its meeting on 31 January 2018, the Executive Committee had considered a report which set out the proposed budget for 2018/19. The Executive Committee had recommended approval of a net budget of £8,732,790; a Band D Council Tax of £114.36, an increase of £5.00 per annum; the use of New Homes Bonus, as proposed in Paragraph 3.5; the Capital Programme, as proposed in Appendix A to the report; the Capital Prudential Indicators, as proposed in Appendix B to the report; the annual Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) statement, as contained in Appendix B to the report;the 2018/19 Treasury Management Strategy, as proposed in Appendix C to the report; the 2018/19 Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy, as proposed in Appendix D to the report; and that the Council’s involvement in a 100% Retained Business Rates Pilot in Gloucestershire for 2018/19, as detailed in Appendix E to the report, be noted.

82.2           The report which was considered by the Executive Committee had been circulated with the Agenda for the current meeting at Pages No. 16-54.

82.3           The recommendation from the Executive Committee was proposed by the Chair of the Committee and seconded by the Lead Member for Finance and Asset Management.

82.4           During the discussion which ensued, a Member questioned how much money was in the Council’s planning reserve and whether that included the costs gained from appeals; why Ubico’s costs had increased; and how much One Legal’s case management system would cost the Council in total. In response, the Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that he was unsure what was currently left in the reserve but would update the Member following the meeting – any costs that were gained from appeals went straight back into the reserve. In terms of Ubico, the pay offer had had a significant impact on the costs of employees but, in addition, when the Council had looked at the budgets for Ubico, Officers had identified that it needed a longer season for garden waste and that it should have a budget in place for agency staff – it was those increased costs which had affected the budget and were the reason further money was required. It was not anticipated that costs would increase further over the year. In respect of One Legal, the Head of Finance and Asset Management confirmed that the total cost for the case management system was £240,000 but this was payable between Tewkesbury Borough, Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils so the payment was £80,000 each. As Tewkesbury Borough was the host Council for One Legal, it incurred all of the expenditure and reclaimed it from the other parties which was the reason the whole £240,000 was in the budget.

82.5           Referring to the proposed Council Tax levels, a Member questioned whether it would raise £169,295. She also queried whether the revenue reserve was currently £4.427 million. In response, the Head of Finance and Asset Management confirmed the amount to be raised through Council Tax and that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82

To recommend a budget for 2018/19 to Council for approval.  

That it be RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that:

1.      a net budget of £8,732,790 be APPROVED.

2.      a Band D Council Tax of £114.36, an increase of £5.00 per annum, be APPROVED. 

3.      the use of New Homes Bonus, as proposed in Paragraph 3.5, be APPROVED.

4.      the Capital Programme, as proposed in Appendix A to the report, be APPROVED.

5.      the Capital Prudential Indicators, as proposed in Appendix B to the report, be APPROVED.

6.      the annual Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) statement, as contained in Appendix B to the report, be APPROVED.

7.      the 2018/19 Treasury Management Strategy, as proposed in Appendix C to the report, be APPROVED.

8.      the 2018/19 Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy, as proposed in Appendix D to the report, be APPROVED.

9.      the Council’s involvement in a 100% Retained Business Rates Pilot in Gloucestershire for 2018/19, as detailed in Appendix E to the report, be NOTED.

86.1           The report of the Head of Finance and Asset Management, circulated separately at Pages No. 1-39, set out the proposed budget for 2018/19. Members were asked to recommend the budget to Council for approval along with a Band D Council Tax of £114.36; the use of New Homes Bonus as proposed in Paragraph 3.5 of the report; the Capital Programme as attached to the report at Appendix A; the Capital Prudential Indicators, as attached to the report at Appendix B; the Annual Minimum Revenue Provision statement at set out at Appendix B to the report; the 2018/19 Treasury Management Strategy, as set out at Appendix C to the report; the 2018/19 Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy, as set out at Appendix D to the report; and to note the Council’s involvement in a 100% Retained Business Rates Pilot in Gloucestershire for 2018/19, as detailed at Appendix E to the report.

86.2           The Head of Finance and Asset Management advised that the Council had considered its financial position, as shown in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, at its meeting on 5 December 2017. That Strategy had outlined the budget pressures facing the Council currently, and in future years, and explained that the deficit over the next five years was estimated to be around £3 million with a gap of £1,100,000 suggested for 2018/19. Since the production of the Medium Term Financial Strategy, the Chancellor had given his autumn statement, the employers had made a pay offer to the Unions and the details of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement had been received for 2018/19 – the final settlement was expected at the end of January. The headlines from those announcements were set out at Paragraph 1.3 of the report and included: no new monies being available to support local government in the current spending review period with the exception of the Rural Services Delivery Grant; a proposal had been made to move to 75% retained business rates from 2020; Gloucestershire had been confirmed as one of the 10 new 100% retained business rates pilots for 2018/19; no changes would be made to the New Homes Bonus funding; planning fees were to increase by 20% from 17 January 2018; the Council would have increased flexibility in Council Tax setting of an additional 1% resulting in a new referendum threshold for District Councils of £5 or 3% whichever was greater; and a pay offer had been put forward of 2% in both 2018 and 2019 with extra weighting for the lowest paid. The report before Members brought together the general information on the financial climate, the detailed figures associated with the 2018/19 budget, and the work undertaken by the Transform Working Group, and made a proposal for a balanced budget and resultant Council Tax. The Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that, as the Council’s Chief Financial Officer, he was required to make a statement on the robustness of the estimates and adequacy of the financial reserves; that statement was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86