Issue - meetings

To approve: The General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2022/23 including the use of reserves, Medium Term Financial Strategy, Capital Programme and Strategy, Treasury Management Strategy, MRP Policy and Annual Investment Strategy, Fees and Charges for 2022/23, the Annual Delivery Plan and approval of Council Tax (report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Development) (S151) enclosed).

(Please note that in accordance with The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, a recorded vote will be taken on Budget recommendations).

(Members are reminded that if they are two months or more in arrears, they must disclose the fact and not vote on any item to set tax or any decision which may affect its calculation).

Consideration was given to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive, Corporate Development (S151) which requested approval of: The General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2022/23 including the use of reserves, Medium Term Financial Strategy, Capital Programme and Strategy, Treasury Management Strategy, MRP Policy and Annual Investment Strategy, Fees and Charges for 2022/23, the Annual Delivery Plan, and approval of Council Tax for recommendation to Full Council.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercialisation and Partnerships introduced the report and outlined the main details of the Budget:

·         Despite the numerous issues that had arisen from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Council had managed very well, and with the help of various Government grants, it had been able to manage its budget well, and a good standard of services had been maintained.  The Portfolio Holder thanked all members and officers who had worked hard to achieve this;

·         The Portfolio Holder gave special thanks to all the Council’s frontline staff who had not been able to work from home during the pandemic, and who had maintained services for residents;

·         The Portfolio Holder particularly thanked the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Development) (S151), and the Leader, who had provided tremendous vision and leadership through the difficult period of the Covid pandemic;

·         The Authority had fallen behind on a number of investment projects and initiatives planned for 20/21 and 21/22 however, the challenges raised by the pandemic had had to take priority;

·         The serious effects of Covid appeared to be fading away for the new 22/23 financial year, and it was hoped that this would give the Authority the opportunity to accelerate its programme of planned investments into communities, and to catch up on the delays caused by the pandemic;

·         The programme planned to spend around £16million this year and into next year in the district;

·         £1 million would be spent on assets including the South Holland Centre, Ayscoughfee, the Bus Station, Spalding Cemetery, Moulton Park, public toilets, car parks and the Castle Leisure Centre;

·         £3.1 million would be spent on commercialisation, to purchase and develop commercial land, the new waste depot centre, and other property;

·         £1.5million would be spent on economic development by building more small commercial units for rental, and to continue the Grants for Growth Scheme to help small businesses to grow;

·         £2.3 million would be spent on private sector housing including disabled facilities and to provide more homes for market rental;

·         £3.4 million would be spent on the Council’s Decent Homes Improvement Programme, covering around 3,800 Council homes;

·         £3.7 million would be spent on affordable housing across the district, for rental and shared ownership;

·         £0.5 million would be spent on expanding the existing garden waste collection scheme (purchase of vehicles and bins, and providing new grounds maintenance machinery);

·         Approximately £0.5 million would be spent on ICT, to help increase customer self-service and to create efficiencies through all Council services;

·         The spending programme would mainly be financed through reserves, grants and cash balances;

·         In addition to the capital spend, there would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92

To approve: The General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2022/23 including the use of reserves, Medium Term Financial Strategy, Capital Programme and Strategy, Treasury Management Strategy, MRP Policy and Annual Investment Strategy, Fees and Charges for 2022/23, the Annual Delivery Plan and approval of Council Tax for recommendation to Full Council (report of the Deputy Chief Executive Corporate Development (S151)enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive Corporate Development (S151) which sought approval of the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2022/23 including the use of reserves, Medium Term Financial Strategy, Capital Programme and Strategy, Treasury Management Strategy, MRP Policy and Annual Investment Strategy, Fees and Charges for 2022/23, the Annual Delivery Plan and approval of Council Tax for recommendation to Full Council.

Prior to presenting the report, the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercialisation and Partnerships advised that he had been made aware of a correction in the Fees and Charges schedule (detailed at page 94 of the agenda pack), which affected Market fees and the Purple Sack scheme.  The correct fees for these areas were as detailed below, and these corrections would be included in the revised appendix when the budget papers were considered by Council:

Market Fees – At Cabinet on 14 December 2021, the fees were changed to £7 for all markets except Long Sutton, which as £8.50;

Purple Sacks – The Council report of 19 January 2022 had stated that purple sacks were no longer able to be purchased and this therefore needed to be reflected in the fee schedule.

The Portfolio Holder presented the 2022/23 Budget, Medium Term Financial Plan and Capital Programme for recommendation to the Council at its meeting on 3 March 2022.

General Fund

The compilation of the Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy was never easy and with this in mind, the Portfolio Holder wished to recognise the dedication and expertise of the Finance Team in delivering the report, together with the assistance of Service Area teams and Portfolio Holders in the context of the Budget Challenge process.

·         The provisions of the Government Settlement were known. Based on this knowledge, together with input from the Budget Challenge process, the 2022/23 Budget was balanced and retained current baseline service levels.

·         The requirement for efficiency savings of £397k had been identified.  This efficiency saving requirement was being linked to partnership delivery plans, which were included in the budget papers.

The budget was based on the assumption known at the time of writing the report including any impact Covid-19 would have on next years or future years’ budgets.

Since the draft budget was presented to Cabinet on 11 January 2022, officers have been working to finalise the estimates, including the savings proposals, and considering feedback from the budget consultation and scrutiny.  As a result of this this there had been some changes to the budget, which included:

·         Revision to Business Rates and Council Tax income projections

·         Revision to investment income and other income projections

There continued to be unprecedented uncertainty around business rates and the Fair Funding Review, and a prudent position had been taken on  estimates going forward.

After having taken all factors into consideration, the proposal was for a Council Tax increase of £4.95 (10p per week) for a Band D property.

HRA

The HRA was forecasting a surplus budget of £1.9m - surplus funds were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44