Issue - meetings

Report No: EXC/SA/19/007

Shadow Executive (Cabinet) Members: Stephen Edwards and Ian Houlder

Lead Officer: Greg Stevenson

RECOMMENDED TO SHADOW COUNCIL (19 FEBRUARY 2019):

(1)     The revenue and capital budget for 2019-2023 attached at Attachment A and as detailed in Attachment D, Appendices 1-5 Attachment E and F to Report No: EXC/SA/19/007, be approved;

(2)     having taken into account the conclusions of the Assistant Director’s (Resources and Performance) report on the adequacy of reserves and the robustness of budget estimates (Attachment C) and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) (Attachment D), particularly the Scenario Planning and Sensitivity Analysis (Attachment D, Appendix 5) and all other information contained in Report No: EXC/SA/19/007, the Shadow Executive (Cabinet) recommends a 0% increase in Band D council tax for 2019/20 for the predecessor area of St Edmundsbury, and a £4.95 increase in Band D council tax for the predecessor area of Forest Heath. This assumption is in line with the approved business case for a single council for West Suffolk with council tax harmonisation planned over seven years. The level of Band D council tax for 2019/2020 therefore be recommended to be set at £182.16 for the predecessor area of St Edmundsbury and £152.28 for the predecessor area of Forest Heath(Note: the level of council tax beyond 2019/20 will be set in accordance with the annual budget process for the relevant financial year);

(3)     the Assistant Director (Resources and Performance), in consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Resources and Performance, be authorised to transfer any surplus from the 2018/2019 revenue budget to the Invest to Save Reserve as detailed in paragraph 1.8.4, and to vire funds between existing Earmarked Reserves (as set out at Attachment D, Appendix 3) as deemed appropriate throughout the year;

(4)     approval be given to the Assistant Director (HR, Legal and Democratic Services), in consultation with the relevant service Assistant Director, to determine the establishment and the employment arrangements to deliver the Council’s priorities within agreed budgets and the principles of the MTFS;

(5)      approval be given to the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy as set out in Attachment G; and

(6)     council tax discount be granted to care leavers in accordance with the details set out in paragraph 1.12 and Attachment H.

The Shadow Executive (Cabinet) considered the above report, which presented the proposals for Budget and Council Tax Setting in 2019/2020 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2019-2023. 

Councillor Ian Houlder, one of the Shadow Executive (Cabinet) Members with the responsibility for Resources and Performance, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Shadow Executive, including that Report No: EXC/SA/19/007 provided details of the new West Suffolk Council’s proposed revenue and capital budgets for 2019/2020 and in the medium term, and the Shadow Executive (Cabinet) was required to consider the 2019/2020 budget for the new authority and recommend to Shadow Council the level of council tax required to help fund this budget.

In the history of local government there had been few times that had seen such a transformation in the funding of local services as the current decade. The changes were numerous and continuous, and there was little doubt that the 2020s would bring even more changes.

The report provided examples of those changes and the financial challenges facing the new West Suffolk Council.Councils could no longer traditionally just deliver services if they were to meet the financial challenges and be able to continue to serve their communities. West Suffolk Council recognised and would take a proactive investment role, not only to meet the challenges brought by funding for councils, but also importantly to manage growth and ensure prosperity for its communities. The new Council must, therefore, maintain the income currently received by Forest Heath District Council (FHDC) and St Edmundsbury Borough Council (SEBC) and also deliver the investment projects, enable the building of homes and increase the business base so that new income streams would be delivered to replace those lost. This would enable the new Council to continue delivering the services and wider community support which people valued and made West Suffolk an attractive place to live, work and invest.

In 2019/2020, the Council’s financial plans would see further reliance on delivery of its strategic projects. Some of the projects required considerable investment, both in money - including creating new funds where needed through borrowing (supported by robust business cases) - resources and time, but that investment would build a more financially resilient and self-sufficient council, with less reliance on uncertain national or other funding. That focus on income-generating projects, which may span several years before they delivered a return, meant the Council no longer looked simply to balance a budget for one year. Importantly, these economic growth projects would bring wider long term benefits to the West Suffolk areas than purely financially robust councils, such as jobs, better health outcomes and investment in working with communities and place based initiatives.

Members considered the report in detail, which included the following issues for securing a balanced budget for 2019/2020 and in the medium term to 2022/2023, together with corresponding detailed appendices:

Section 1.2: Local Government Provisional Finance Settlement 2019/2020

Section 1.3: Council tax referendum requirements 2019/2020

Section 1.4: Setting the budget – 2019/2020 and across the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46