Issue - meetings

Report of the Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

Councillor N Rushton presented the report, as amended in the additional papers. The report set out the proposals for the General Fund and Special Expenses Budget for 2021/22 and asked Cabinet to endorse them for statutory consultation, before final approval by Cabinet and Council in February 2021.

Key features of the proposals included:

·         A projected surplus of £49,000 on the draft General Fund Budget, this was better than previously anticipated due to deferral of local government funding reforms to April 2022 due to COVID-19.

·         Staff salary increases were only included for those staff earning below £24,000 a year in line with recent Government Spending Review.

·         Reduced income from planning fees, car parking charges and the sale of recyclable materials, partly due to the impact of COVID-19 on these income streams.

·         The rebasing of the Journey to Self Sufficiency savings with the Year 1 programme targets of £570,000 included for the following year.

·         Six new service development proposals including, continuation of food waste trials, additional expenditure on monitoring of air quality and installation of surveillance cameras to assist in detecting fly-tipping following a request by Members at Corporate Scrutiny Committee on 11 November 2020.

·         The twelfth consecutive year without a rise in the Council’s portion of Council Tax, although more income would still be collected due to housing growth in the District, alongside growth in Business rates.

·         The receipt of two years’ worth of historic reward payments under the New Homes Bonus scheme and a new bonus payment, totalling £660,000 more received than had been anticipated.

·         £330,000 in additional funding had been received from Government to mitigate the financial pressures of COVID-19.

·         The draft Special Expenses Budget included proposed increases in the precept for the next financial year to fund planned maintenance, the phasing out of the Localisation of Council Tax Support Grant and to maintain a balanced position.

It was advised that funding estimates would be revised following approval of the council tax and business rates bases in January 2021 and receipt of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.

Members spoke in support of the proposals set out in the report. In particular the ability of the self-sufficiency fund to respond to any unforeseen pressures, the proposal to keep the District’s portion of Council Tax frozen, and the service development proposals in Community Services which were praised as important work that would hugely benefit the District and its communities. 

It was moved by Councillor N Rushton, seconded by Councillor R Blunt and

RESOLVED THAT CABINET

1)    Agrees the 2021/22 General Fund and Special Expenses Budget Proposals for statutory consultation; and

2)    That the Assurance Statement by the Section 151 Officer be noted.

Reason for decision: Required as part of the 2021/22 budget process.