Issue - meetings

Report of the Interim Director of Resources

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

Councillor N J Rushton presented the report to members, drawing their attention to the amended report in the additional papers.  He highlighted the changes to the underlined amounts in recommendations 20(1) to 20(3) of the report and the tables.  He emphasised that there was no overall impact upon the final Council Tax calculation. 

Councillor N J Rushton referred members to the draft General Fund and Special Expenses budget proposals at Appendix 1 which were considered by Cabinet on 7 February and were recommended to Council for approval.  He highlighted the summary of the proposed budget set out on page 33 of the agenda.  He stated that with discussions ongoing about the future of Business Rates and the pending reductions in New Homes Bonus and Revenue Support Grant, this was a prudent budget which held a necessarily high level of reserves due to the risks involved. 

Councillor N J Rushton was pleased to recommend a freeze in Council Tax for the eighth year running which equated to a saving over the 8 year period of £27 for a Band D property.  He added that North West Leicestershire was the only district council in Leicestershire which had frozen its Council Tax for 8 years. He announced that for 2017/18 town and parish councils would be given the same amount of Local Council Tax Support as the previous year, however this would be reduced in future years due to the phasing out of the Revenue Support Grant from central government.

Councillor N J Rushton referred members to section 3 of the report which provided details of the projected outturn for 2016/17 and explained the forecast under spend of £1.3 million which was mainly due to additional business rates and planning income arising from the unprecedented growth taking place in North West Leicestershire.  He advised that it was recommended to transfer the under spend to a special projects reserve.  He highlighted that both the end of year position and the projected budget for 2017/18 relied heavily upon business rates income and therefore in order to be prudent it was recommended to wait until the business rates were finalised in May before making any commitments as to how the under spend should be utilised.

Councillor N J Rushton highlighted the General Fund, Special Expenses and HRA Capital Programmes set out at Appendix 3, the Treasury Management Strategy Statement 2017/18 and Prudential Indicators set out at Appendix 4, and the recommendations for setting the Council Tax at section 4 of the report.

Councillor N J Rushton noted the amendments submitted by the Labour Group.  He commented that the Activ8 scheme already provided for free swimming and he felt that the proposals to employ additional resource for the Policy Development Group and planning enforcement were a waste as the Council already employed a sufficient number of highly qualified people.  He added that the proposal to fund this from under spend was not the right thing to do before the end of the financial year.  He stated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50