Agenda item

At its meeting on 2 February 2022 the Executive Committee considered the 2022/23 budget and RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that:

1.     a net budget of £9,821,535 be APPROVED;

2.     a Band D Council Tax of £134.36, an increase of £5.00pa, be APPROVED;

3.     growth items be included within the budget for 2022/23, as proposed in Appendix A to the report; and

4.     the capital programme, as proposed in Appendix B to the report, be APPROVED.   

The report before the Council incorporates the amendments sent to the Executive Committee separately.

66.1           At its meeting on 2 February 2022 the Executive Committee considered the 2022/23 budget and made a recommendation to Council.  

66.2           The report which was considered by the Executive Committee had been circulated with the Agenda for the current meeting at Pages No. 7-32.

66.3           In proposing the recommendation, the Chair of the Executive Committee offered his thanks to everyone involved in the work to ensure the Council had a balanced budget to agree. The Lead Member for Finance and Asset Management seconded the recommendation from the Executive Committee.

66.4           During the brief discussion which ensued, a Member questioned whether the budgeted 2% increase for the pay award would be enough and whether other authorities were putting aside the same provision. In response, the Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that, in terms of what was affordable for the Council, a 2% pay award was on the high side; however, in respect of inflation and what employees needed, 2% was on the low side. Currently the offer on the table was approximately 1.5% but this was still under negotiation – the Council had reserves in place to deal with anything higher than 2% although he hoped this figure would not be exceeded. Referring to Appendix A, Section A, the Member questioned what neighbour notification letters were. In response, the Head of Development Services explained that the Development Management review was considering the introduction of neighbour notification letters which would be sent to neighbouring properties when a planning application was submitted. Referring to Section C, a Member questioned what the Regeneration Officer would be doing and the Head of Finance and Asset Management confirmed the post would add extra capacity to support the Council’s ambitions in Tewkesbury Town Centre which it was intended would be moved forward in the next year. In terms of the One Legal Business Development Manager, the Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that there were income targets in the One Legal budget and the post would, along with the rest of the service, be looking to maximise income to meet – and hopefully exceed – those targets. In addition, he responded to a query regarding the Section 106 Officer post and explained that the Officer was already in post using COVID-19 funding but, long-term, there was a need to pay for the post on an ongoing basis from Section 106 funds. The two year funding for the post would give time to get the Section 106 fund up and running.

66.5           A Member thanked the Head of Finance and Asset Management for the sessions he had provided to Members prior to the Council meeting which had explained in easy to understand terms what the different areas of the budget were. Another Member echoed those comments but indicated that he would abstain from the vote because he could not support a Council Tax rise that increased to the maximum at a time when residents were finding it hard to make ends meet.

66.6          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:

66.7           Accordingly, it was

                  RESOLVED         1.    That a net budget of £9,821,535 be APPROVED.

2.    That a Band D Council Tax of £134.36, an increase of £5.00 per annum, be APPROVED.  

4.    That growth items be included within the budget for 2022/23, as proposed in Appendix A to the report.

5.    That the Capital Programme, as proposed in Appendix B to the report, be AGREED.