Meeting documents

Members are asked to note and comment on the attached Cabinet report.

The Committee received the report and appendices which could be seen on pages 157 - 204 of the reports pack. The Cabinet report provided information affecting the Council’s revenue budget for 2018/19 in order for the Cabinet to make recommendations to Council on 28^th February regarding the Council’s budget and council tax for 2018/19.

During discussion, key points raised included:

• The Committee was advised that amendments to the figures presented to the Committee in December 2017 were outlined on page 160 of the reports pack. Amongst changes were the 2% pay offer put to staff as agreed by the Joint Staffing Committee as well as the Government’s decision to increase planning fees by 20%. Overall all the changes resulted in a net saving of £34k.
• The budget had been planned on the basis of a 3% increase in the district element of the council tax.
• The medium term financial projections could be seen on page 163 of the reports pack and these factored in the consequences of the Council’s tariff payments to Central Government from 2019/20. There was also an assumption made that the Council would face a net loss from Government’s Fair Funding review from 2020/21 onwards.
• The Committee was advised that the distribution of future surplus from the Chiltern Crematorium was due to be discussed at the Chiltern Crematorium Joint Committee on 29 January 2018.
• Net additional income from the new Chilterns Pools had been included from 2020/21. It was anticipated that the planning application would be submitted after August 2018. The Committee made clear that the detailed business case needed to be presented to them in ample time ahead of any decision being taken to allow thorough review. The Committee expressed concern that it felt this had not been the case with the Amersham Multi Storey car park business case which had been presented in 2017, and more time for scrutiny should have been allowed. It was confirmed to the Committee that no funds would be drawn down until the Council had decided whether to sign off the business case. It was further confirmed that there would be no costs applied if the Council chose not to draw down funds.
• The question was asked whether the savings that the Council were required to make in future years would result in a reduced level of service to customers. The Committee was advised that all savings achieved to date had either maintained or improved service to residents, and this would be the intention in the future as far as possible.
• On point 4, page 169 of the Chief Financial Officer’s report the Committee suggested the rewording of this sentence to include words of caution such as ‘for the sake of residents’.
• The Support Services PAG had reviewed the level and distribution of the Council’s reserves and the proposed changes to earmarked reserves could be seen on page 166 of the reports pack.
• The Committee was advised that new homes grants would continue to be received with no changes to its methodology anticipated this side of 2020/21.
• The Committee questioned whether £300k was enough to put aside for the earmarked pension fund reserve. The Committee were advised that regular payments to the pension fund deficit had been made in the past.  Having this reserve gave the Council options when deciding how to respond to the next fund revaluation in 2020. .
• The Budget Sensitivity Analysis could be seen on page 177 of the reports pack. The Committee were advised that this looked at a number of the key budget risk areas and analysed the sensitivity of these to changes in certain circumstances.

RESOLVED

That the Committee was in agreement with the recommendations outlined in the report being put forward to Cabinet on 6 February 2018.