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Agenda item

Budget 2019/20

At its meeting on 6 February 2019 the Executive Committee considered the 2019/20 budget and RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that:

1.      a net budget of £8,772,830 be APPROVED;

2.      a Band D Council Tax of £119.36, an increase of £5.00 per annum, be APPROVED;

3.      the use of New Homes Bonus, as proposed in Paragraph 3.5 of the report, be AGREED; and

4.      the capital programme, as proposed in Appendix A to the report, be AGREED.

 

(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). 

Minutes:

78.1           At its meeting on 6 February 2019 the Executive Committee considered the 2019/20 budget and made a recommendation to Council.  

78.2           The report which was considered by the Executive Committee had been circulated with the Agenda for the current meeting at Pages No. 5-19.

78.3           In proposing the recommendation, the Chair of the Executive Committee explained that, in line with the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), the budget for the coming year faced a deficit of around £700,000; this was as a result of a combination of factors including cost pressures; growth of service requirements; and further reductions in core government funding of over £200,000. In order to offset the deficit, a number of initiatives aimed at making the Council more self-sustainable had been delivered including: an increase in the garden waste customer base and the fee charged; diversification of treasury investments; rental of spare office capacity in the Public Services Centre; purchase of additional commercial properties; the introduction of Planning Performance Agreements; further use of digital and electronic technologies and channels; and the reorganisation of One Legal to provide an enhanced commercial outlook and additional fee earning capacity. To achieve that additional fee earning capacity, it had been necessary to make changes to the structure of the service. Phase 1 of the One Legal restructure was at management team level with two new posts being created and one deleted; the deleted post had given rise to a redundancy which had incurred a total severance cost of £165,308 – this was split between the three partner Councils of Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Boroughs and Gloucester City, and was made up of a redundancy payment of £34,642 and a pension strain payment to the Gloucestershire County Council Pension Fund of £130,666. Those costs would be met from reserves which were earmarked for the restructure. Although the cost to Tewkesbury Borough Council was £52,421, the total cost was at a level required by government guidance to be voted upon by the Council and it was for that reason an additional recommendation was proposed that the Council approve the severance cost of the Head of Law (Regulatory). In addition to the initiatives outlined, the Chair of the Executive Committee explained that the Borough continued to enjoy growth in both its residential and business sectors and, as a result, there was an increase in the contribution made by New Homes Bonus to support the Council’s core services and an increase to the level of business rates retained by the authority; however, in order to balance the budget, it was, once again, necessary to increase the Council Tax by the maximum amount permissible by central government. The budget proposal, if approved, would require Council Tax to be set at £119.36 per year for a Band D property; however, it was important to note that, even with that increase of 4.37%, Tewkesbury would remain one of the lowest charging District Councils in England and, with the quality of the service it provided to communities, it was felt this was great value for money for residents.

78.4           During the brief discussion which ensued, a Member noted an annual increased cost of £195,000 on the Ubico budget, as well as an increase of £36,000 in the cost of disposal of recycled materials collected; she questioned why these increases were necessary. In addition, she drew attention to Paragraph 6.3 of the report, and questioned why £195,000 was placed in reserves to meet future asset management needs. In response, the Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that the Ubico contract had increased, mainly due to an increase in employee costs following the equal pay increase which meant some lower paid employees would have a 5/6% increase rather than 2% - many of those employees worked for Ubico so the increase in costs to the organisation was substantial. In terms of recycled materials, the cost increase reflected the increased tonnage collected but also the higher cost of disposal. In respect of the commercial property portfolio, the £195,000 would be set aside to meet future costs in terms of voids/refurbishments etc. for the Council’s commercial property portfolio; this was a previous decision of the Council which was being implemented for the first time this year. In terms of Ubico, the Lead Member for Clean and Green Environment noted that, in addition to the pay review, there was also a shortage of drivers which meant Ubico inevitably had to rely on agency staff which was costly. Officers from the Council were working with Ubico to try and alleviate the costs of agency staff. A Member questioned how many agency drivers were used and what the annual cost of that usage was. In response, the Head of Finance and Asset Management undertook to try and get that information from Ubico to circulate to Members.

78.5              The proposal was seconded and, in accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, voting on the proposal was recorded as follows:

For

Against

Abstain

Absent

R E Allen

A J Evans

B C J Hesketh

P W Awford

Mrs S E Hillier-Richardson

 

P E Stokes

K J Berry

 

M G Sztymiak

R A Bird

 

 

D J Waters

R Bishop

 

 

M J Williams

G F Blackwell

 

 

 

G J Bocking

 

 

 

K J Cromwell

 

 

 

D M M Davies

 

 

 

J E Day

 

 

 

M Dean

 

 

 

R D East

 

 

 

J H Evetts

 

 

 

D T Foyle

 

 

 

R Furolo

 

 

 

R E Garnham

 

 

 

P A Godwin

 

 

 

M A Gore

 

 

 

J Greening

 

 

 

R M Hatton

 

 

 

A Hollaway

 

 

 

E J MacTiernan

 

 

 

J R Mason

 

 

 

H C McLain

 

 

 

A S Reece

 

 

 

V D Smith

 

 

 

T A Spencer

 

 

 

P D Surman

 

 

 

H A E Turbyfield

 

 

 

R J E Vines

 

 

 

P N Workman

 

 

 

78.6           Accordingly, it was

                  RESOLVED         1.    That a net budget of £8,772,830 for 2019/20 be                                                   APPROVED.

2.    That a Band D Council Tax of £119.36, an increase of £5.00 per annum, be APPROVED. 

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

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

5.    That the severance payment for the One Legal redundancy be APPROVED.

Supporting documents: