Issue - meetings

At its meeting on 3 February 2021 the Executive Committee considered the 2021/22 budget and RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

1.     That a new budget of £9,270,575 be APPROVED.

2.     That a Band D Council Tax of £129.36, an increase of £5.00 per annum, be       APPROVED.  

3.     That the use of uncommitted reserves totalling £431,108 to support the base budget       be APPROVED.

4.     That the inclusion of growth items within the budget for 2021/22 be APPROVED as    proposed in Appendix A to the report.

5.     That the capital programme be APPROVED as proposed in Appendix B to the report.

(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).

67.1          At its meeting on 3 February 2021 the Executive Committee considered the 2021/22 budget and made a recommendation to Council.  

67.2          The report which was considered by the Executive Committee had been circulated with the Agenda for the current meeting at Pages No. 14-32.

67.3          In proposing the recommendation, the Chair of the Executive Committee explained that the budget was the result of a lot of hard work by Members and Officers and he paid tribute to the Head of Finance and Asset Management and his team for their outstanding work in creating a balanced budget at a very difficult time and in exceptional circumstances. The Lead Member for Finance and Asset Management seconded the recommendation from the Executive Committee and reiterated his thanks to the Head of Finance and Asset Management for the work he had put into ensuring the Council had a balanced budget that it considered acceptable.

67.4          Members were advised that, in accordance with the Council Rules of Procedure, an amendment to the budget had been received in advance of the meeting, which had been circulated separately prior to the meeting with the comments of the Section 151 Officer, and the proposer of the amendment was invited to introduce it. The Member advised that he would also like to thank Officers for the hard work that had gone into the budget process and for answering the various questions which he and others had posed in order to have a full understanding of the budget. He noted that £431,000 was being taken from the Council’s reserves to ensure a balanced budget was achieved and that the Section 151 Officer was satisfied that the projected level of reserves was adequate for 2021/22 and that £97,500 expected salary savings had been included. However, it was also noted that the report did not identify how the budget was broken down by service line which was the reason for the first two points of the amendment. He thanked the Section 151 Officer for his response to those points in confirming the savings identified for 2021/22 and that no further savings could reasonably be included as plans had not progressed sufficiently over the previous 10 months to give assurance that potential savings were deliverable, did not have a significant service disbenefit and had been subject to sufficient consultation. In addition, he thanked the Section 151 Officer for his commitment that a link to the budget book – which showed a line by line detailed analysis of the budget - would be circulated to all Members when the 2021/22 issue was complete, as well as undertaking to include an additional appendix in future budget reports which would provide a breakdown of the service area and budgets that were contained in the main body of the report. The proposer drew particular attention to the proposed amendment to remove £10,000 for the IT Auditor and £50,000 from the investment top-up fund and to add £10,000 for green initiatives; £10,000 for initiatives to reduce flytipping  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67

To recommend a budget for 2021/22 to the Council.

That it be RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

1.     That a new budget of £9,270,575 be APPROVED.

2.     That a Band D Council Tax of £129.36, an increase of £5.00 per annum, be APPROVED.  

3.     That the use of uncommitted reserves totalling £431,108 to support the base budget be APPROVED.

4.     That the inclusion of growth items within the budget for 2021/22 be APPROVED as proposed in Appendix A to the report.

5.     That the capital programme be APPROVED as proposed in Appendix B to the report.

83.1          The report of the Head of Finance and Asset Management, circulated at Pages No. 102-120, set out a proposed budget for 2021/22 which the Committee was asked to recommend to Council for approval.

83.2          The Head of Finance and Asset Management drew attention to a number of key points. He explained that this year’s budget had been incredibly challenging set against the backdrop of COVID-19, the confirmed withdrawal of New Homes Bonus, the increasing needs of services and the widening aspirations of the Council but, nonetheless it was a well-rounded budget with no redundancies, increased efficiency and services ongoing with only a modest reliance on Council reserves and increase in Council Tax. The modest use of reserves meant a solid balance of reserves was maintained to meet future challenges.

83.3          Members thanked the Head of Finance and Asset Management and his team for their hard work in managing to put together a balanced budget. Referring to Page No. 119, Section A, a Member questioned why a new food waste round was required. In response, the Head of Community Services advised that the current food waste rounds were struggling on certain days of the week and getting to the point where the rounds could not be completed with the current resources because of increased recycling. In respect of Section B, the Member questioned why £10,000 was required for an IT Auditor and what the benefits were of that role. In response, the Head of Corporate Services explained that the audit team lacked the IT expertise required given the growing risk to the Council in that area and the need for assurance that it was safe and secure. In respect of the Borough Development Reserve, the Head of Finance and Asset Management confirmed that the Council had previously set aside £600,000 to support the development of large sites across the Borough, and expenditure items like masterplanning used that reserve quite quickly meaning it needed to be topped up. The Member also questioned whether the other Ubico partners had signed up to the exploration of in-cab technology and whether this was an ‘invest to save’ type item. In response, the Head of Community Services advised that Cotswold District Council was just commencing trials of in-cab technology - all of the other Ubico partners had expressed interest and were making investments this year. The project was an invest to save item as it would make the services more responsive and efficient.

83.4          Referring to Page No. 112, Section 7.1, a Member noted the large budget increase in Corporate Services and Development Services and questioned why this was. In response, the Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that one of the reasons for increased costs in Development Services was the £100,000 top up for the Borough Development Reserve. In respect of Corporate Services, the increase was a range of things being put in place to support the team including the IT Auditor – he undertook to provide a breakdown outside of the meeting.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83