Council and councillors

To receive Report No. 04/2024 from the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Governance and Resources.

Report No. 04/2024 was received from Councillor A Johnson, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Resources and Governance. The report came to Council as part of the Council’s formal budget setting process and set out a number of required decisions from Council, including the setting of Council Tax (including an Adult Social Care precept), and approval of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and Fees and Charges Strategy. It was noted a revised Appendix Q had been circulated in the agenda supplement with updated figures from the Combined Fire Authority.

Members spoke in support of the proposed budget, highlighting the Council’s commitment to operate within its means through investment in transformation activities to reduce expenditure in the long term. Members noted the difficult financial circumstances and subsequent choices facing many local authorities based on national government policy and the lobbying the Council was engaging in seeking fairer funding for rural authorities.

Thanks were also expressed to the Council’s Section 151 Officer and all officers who had worked throughout the budget-setting process in order to being the budget before Council. Thanks were also expressed to the members of the public who had engaged in the Council’s budget consultation.

A motion to approve the recommendations of Report No. 04/2024 had been moved by Councillor A Johnson and seconded with the inclusion of the updated Appendix Q, a recorded vote being required voting was as follows:

There voted in favour:

Councillors N Begy, A Brown, P Browne, T Carr, M Chatfield, G Clifton, K Corby, H Edwards, D Ellison, M Farina, K Heckels, O Hemsley, A Johnson, S Lambert, S McRobb, K Payne, R Payne, R Powell, R Ross, T Smith, L Stephenson, G Waller, A West, D Wilby, C Wise and H Zollinger-Ball.

There being 26 votes in favour and no votes against nor any abstentions, the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Council APPROVED:

a)    The budget including a Council Tax increase of 4.99% (2.99% general Council Tax and 2.0% Adult Social Care precept), as outlined in section 5.1.2, Appendix F and the Council Tax resolution in Appendix P.

b)    The updated budget assumptions, to be incorporated in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2024/25 – 2027/28. These are outlined in sections 5 and 6.

c)    The grant funding receipts estimated across the MTFS as contained in Appendix D.

d)    The Fees and Charges Strategy that details the approach to be adopted by directorates when setting and updating fees and charges as provided in Appendix E.

e)    The revised capital programme and schemes outlined in section 6.5 and referencing Appendix K and M.

f)     The funding of the capital programme as detailed in the treasury management and capital strategies in Appendices L and M

g)    The updated Reserves Strategy and forecast reserve commitments to fund the cost of transformational investment and previously identified departmental commitments as outlined in section 7.4, and Appendices B, C and I.

h)    The Education budget as outlined in section 6.6 and Appendix N.

i)      The budget virement limits as outlined in section 9.

j)      The Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2024/25 – 2027/28 as set out in the body of the report and following appendices:

·      Appendix A – 2024/25 – 2027/28 MTFS detailed budget position

·      Appendix B – Budget proposals tables (pressures / savings / investments)

·      Appendix C – Directorates Overview, Service Ambitions and Budget Variation

·      Statements

·      Appendix D – Grant Register

·      Appendix E – Fees & Charges Strategy / Policy & Schedule

·      Appendix F – Funding strategy

·      Appendix G – Financial Health Indicators

·      Appendix H – Financial Risk Register

·      Appendix I – Reserve Strategy

·      Appendix J – Consultation document & responses

·      Appendix K – Capital Programme Schemes 2024/25 – 2027/28

·      Appendix L – Treasury Management Strategy & Annual Investment Strategy

·      Appendix M – Capital Strategy

·      Appendix N – Dedicated Schools Grant and the Schools budget

·      Appendix O – Carbon Impact Assessment

·      Appendix P – Reconciliation of budget adjustments since Cabinet 11 January and 13 February 2024

·      Appendix Q – Council Tax Resolution (As updated)

That Council NOTED:

k)    The changes that had been made since the 11 January and 13 February 2024 Cabinet reports that were shown in Appendix P and included additional grant announcement allocations resulting in a net increase in income for 2024/25 of £0.5m and updating of assumptions applied for estimated expenditure and income.

l)      The statutory advice from the Chief Finance Officer contained in section 7 ‘The Robustness (Section 25) Statement’

m)   The Council’s core funding position following the outcome of the Local Government Settlement outlined in section 5.

n)    The strategic financial approach taken by the Council outlined in section 3 of the report.

o)    The financial health indicators which consider the key financial considerations of revenue and balance sheet performance, and that capital investment is not resulting in undue burden on future funding, section 8.

The feedback on the budget proposals from residents, staff and the community as detailed in Appendix J.