Issue - meetings

Review of the Budget proposals 2013/14 which are out for consultation and consideration of the recommendations of the budget scrutiny working group. The budget working group is meeting on 7 January so their recommendations will follow.

Councillors Smith, Hay and Driver retired from the meeting for this agenda item (see Agenda item 2). Councillor Klara Sudbury, as vice chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, assumed chairmanship of the meeting.

Councillor John Rawson, Cabinet Member for Finance, introduced the General Fund Revenue and Capital – Interim Budget proposals – 2014/15 Consultation Paper which had been circulated with the agenda.

The Cabinet Member explained that the Budget Scrutiny Working Group had considered the budget proposals in depth with a view to determine whether the council was doing what it had said it would do. He felt that it had been a challenging and constructive review and commended the report to the Committee.

The Cabinet Member highlighted the main aspects of the proposals. There is a reduction in funding from Government and the loss to the Council is likely to amount to £844,000 which equates to 13.6%.

The Budget Scrutiny Working Group had considered the budget proposals at their meeting on 9 January 2014. As a result they had come up with a number of recommendations for this committee to consider. Councillor Rob Garnham as chair of the working group talked through their recommendations.

• BSWG recognises the approach to using New Homes Bonus funding in the past and supports increasing the use of this funding stream to support the revenue budget, particularly in view of guidance issued with the provisional settlement which confirms that councils are free to spend the bonus as they chose, including on front-line services and keeping council tax low. The proportion of money in the interim budget (64%) used to support the budget is in line with the BSWG view that a cautious approach should be taken to its use.

• The BSWG questions why the Cabinet is proposing a further Council tax freeze whilst it is warning that cuts in funding are worse than expected. It recognises however that the proposal to maintain the freeze has been influenced by the reversal of the Government proposal to top-slice New Homes Bonus funding and the provisional settlement proposal that the funding for past council tax freezes (2011/12 and 2013/14) and for the next two years freeze will be built into the spending review baseline, protecting us against a cliff edge of freeze funding falling away in due course.

• The BSWG supports the view from the Section 151 Officer that CBC should remain in the Gloucestershire Business Rates Pool based on preliminary monitoring considered by the BSWG during the course of the year. The BSWG acknowledges the complexity and uncertainty in budgeting and monitoring the pool resulting from continued issuing of government guidance and acknowledges that it will only be at the outturn of the current year that the benefit of the pool can be properly assessed. 

• The BSWG supports the view by the Section 151 Officer that, in line with the other councils in Gloucestershire, that no changes should be made to the Localised Council Tax Support Scheme (LCTS) although members had been approached by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance and Section 151 Officer

RESOLVED THAT

1.      The interim budget proposals be approved for consultation including a proposed council tax for the services provided by Cheltenham Borough Council of £187.12 for the year 2014/15 (a 0% increase based on a Band D property).

2.      The growth proposals be approved, including one off initiatives at Appendix 3.

3.      The proposed capital programme at Appendix 6 be approved, as outlined in Section 7.

4.      Authority be delegated to the Director of Corporate Resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, to determine and approve any additional material that may be needed to support the presentation of the interim budget proposals for consultation.

5.      Consultation responses be sought by 24^th January 2014.

6.      It be approved that the Council will remain in the Gloucestershire business rates pool for 2014/15 (para 3.7)

7.      It be approved that no change be made to the Local Council Tax support scheme in 2014/15 (para 3.10).

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report and explained that the Council had experienced a cut in Revenue Support Grant from £8.8 million in 2009-10 to £5.1 million in 2012-13 and it was expecting a larger cut this year. This represented a huge challenge particularly with the £1.4 million budget gap. He announced that the proposal was to freeze council tax for the fourth year running and this was funded by efficiency savings elsewhere.

The Cabinet Member Finance referred to the restructures which had and were taking place in leisure and culture, ICT, revenues and benefits and customer services which would assist in achieving further savings for the council.        Approximately £900 000 would be invested in property maintenance, comprising £750 000 from the revenue budget and £200 000 from New Homes Bonus. £250 000 would be invested next year in ICT, play equipment and CCTV in the town. These were remarkable achievements considering the difficult economic circumstances. He emphasised however that it should be made clear to central Government that further cuts in funding to local government could not be sustained for much longer if councils were to continue to provide essential services.

In terms of process the Cabinet Member explained that there would now be a detailed consultation which would be published on the council’s website and a leaflet would be available from reception. The consultation period would end on 24 January 2014 with the final budget proposals to be approved by Council on February 14 2014.

Finally the Cabinet Member Finance paid tribute to the hard work of all officers and in particular the Director of Resources, the Head of Finance and SLT in using their creativity in solving particular problems.

Member reiterated the fact that central government should realise that its policy of continually cutting local government funding was no longer sustainable and it was increasingly difficult to plan for the future.

Reference was made to investment in the town for the future in terms of paving on the Promenade and improving the standard of the council’s car parks. A member also referred to the fact that many local businesses would not realise that a large proportion of business rates paid in the town went straight to central government.

The Leader reiterated his thanks to the finance team. This was a positive budget although it was particularly difficult to determine the level of council tax. In any event any council tax rise was constrained to 0-2% unless an authority called a referendum. The change in government policy on topslicing the new homes bonus had made the council tax freeze affordable although he noted that a long term freeze would be unsustainable.

RESOLVED THAT

1. The interim budget proposals be approved for consultation including a proposed council tax for the services provided by Cheltenham Borough Council of £187.12 for the year 2014/15 (a 0% increase based on a Band D property).
2. The growth proposals be approved, including one off initiatives at Appendix 3.
3. The proposed capital programme at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4