Agenda item

Joint Report of the Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development and the Chief Finance Officer (to follow)

The Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development introduced the report. The report summarised the revised General Fund Revenue and Capital budget for 2010/11 and the Cabinet’s interim budget proposals for 2011/12 for consultation.

In his introduction he acknowledged that it had been an extremely challenging budget given the delay in the announcement of the Government settlement and the reduction in the settlement when it was finally received.  The detailed public consultation was based on a budget gap of £2.6 million but following the announcement of the settlement the council had to find nearly £3 million in economies to balance the budget and had only three days to finalise the draft proposals.

He outlined the Cabinet’s general approach to the 2011/12 budget set out in section 4 of the report. He highlighted the key points to note in the presented draft budget as follows:

• No Council Tax increases
• A freeze on wages and Cabinet Members taking a 5% cut in their Cabinet allowance
• A 5% workforce reduction with a similar reduction in the following year
• Members were pleased to see the freeze of car parking charges in recognition of the impact of the recession
• Growth in invest to save projects or those crucial in helping the voluntary sector to protect services or projects which are key to the future of the town. These would be financed by capital receipts from sale of council assets.

He highlighted the 92 specific initiatives to address the deficit set out in appendix 4 and set out the rationale. An equality impact assessment and risk assessment had been carried out on each one. He acknowledged that some of cuts would be controversial including:

·        the end to free travel for the over 60s between 9 and 9.30 am for the reasons set out in para 3.5 of the report

·        the end of taxi vouchers for the disabled

·        a move to sustainable planting in some parts of the town

·        the closure of some public toilets

·        a reduction in grass verge cutting

·        reduction in the Cheltenham Festivals Grant

·        reduced grants to the Regeneration Partnerships over the next five years

·        charging for green waste

·        a cut in the civic budgets for the mayor and twinning.

He emphasised that the council hadn’t closed anything. The Leisure Centre would continue and the Pump Rooms and Town Hall would be kept open.   The development of the new ArtGallery and Museum would continue and Civic Pride would get a boost.

Finally he set out some areas of growth which were detailed in section 5 of the report.  These included £50 K of matched funding to help support youth service work and £30 K for Community Pride.

In summary, he emphasised that it was not possible to cut £3 million out of a budget without there being an impact. Budgets were about choices and he would be happy to listen to arguments during the period of public consultation if people wanted to come forward with alternatives.

The Chief Finance Officer indicated that the cuts in government support had been dramatic with what was expected over 4 years being condensed into almost the first 2 years. He drew attention to the figures in the table in 3.1 which indicated that of the total of £49 M of business rates collected in the town, the council’s share of redistributed business rates was only £4.463 M. He highlighted amendments in Appendix 4 where the reduced funding to Cheltenham Festivals in 18 should refer to a figure of £49,200 and in no 39 it should refer to deleting a part-time community ranger post. Finally he advised that the recommendation 7 had been amended to delegate the authority to the CFO in consultation with the Cabinet Member. The same amendment would apply to the recommendations for the following HRA report.  

In commenting on the budget. Cabinet Members acknowledged the hard work of Financial services, the Bridging the Gap team and officers across the council in bringing this budget together. They acknowledged that it was also a difficult time for staff and particularly those whose jobs may be at risk.

They made the following comments on aspects of the budget:

• With the transfer of concessionary fares to the County Council, it was unfair that the council was going to lose the £1M it had been using to top up the scheme and this was a major contributing factor to the budget deficit
• Members were pleased to see the freeze on car parking charges in recognition of the recession
• Highlighted the close down of the Sourcing Strategy in Appendix 7 and the resulting transfer to the General Reserve and other funding to support the GO programme and potential revenues and benefits shared services
• The budget was good news for carbon reduction with a number of energy saving projects being supported
• Key leisure and culture assets had been protected in the budget in view of their importance in attracting tourists to the town and boosting the economy. However there was no complacency and the council would be looking to make these services as cost-effective as possible to ensure they were sustainable going forward.
• The loss of toilets was a concern but in many cases they were not pleasant to use and it was appropriate that other alternatives should be explored, working with shops and businesses.
• There would be concerns about charging for garden waste but this action was effectively safeguarding what was a discretionary service
• Cautioned that aspects of service growth relied on the funding from LAA performance reward grant which was still only estimated at this stage.

Resolved that:

1. The revised budget for 2010/11 be noted.
2. The interim budget proposals for consultation be approved including a proposed council tax for the services provided by Cheltenham Borough Council of £187.12 for the year 2011/12 (a 0% increase based on a Band D property).
3. The growth proposals, including one off initiatives at Appendix 3 be approved.
4. The reserve re-alignments at Appendix 8, as outlined in section 8 be approved.
5. The proposed capital programme at Appendix 9, as outlined in Section 9 be approved.
6. The proposed Property Maintenance programme at Appendix 10 be approved.
7. Authority be delegated to the Chief Finance Officer, 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.
8. Consultation responses be sought by a revised deadline of 22^nd January 2011.