Meeting documents

SBDC Cabinet
Wednesday, 7th February, 2018 6.00 pm

Meeting of Cabinet, Wednesday, 7th February, 2018 6.00 pm (Item 82.)

Decision:

Cabinet received a report which provided information affecting the Council’s revenue budget for 2018/19 in order for the Cabinet to make recommendations to Council on 27 February regarding the Council’s budget and council tax for 2018/19.

RECOMMEND to Full Council that the

1) the Revenue budget for 2018/19 as summarised in the table in paragraph 4.13 be approved.

2) the following use of earmarked reserves for 2018/19 be agreed.

- Local Development Plan, £393k

- Economic Development Reserve, £42k

3) a budget requirement of £7,398k, which will result in a District council tax of £158.00 for a Band D property be approved.

4) the level of fees and charges for 2018/19 as set out in Appendix C be confirmed.

5) the advice of the Director of Resources as set out in Appendix A be noted.

6) the comments in the report on the Council’s financial position in respect of the years following 2018/19 and the updated Medium Term Forecast be noted.

7) the revenue and capital budgets for 2018/19 for the Farnham Park Trust as summarised in Appendix D be agreed.

And RESOLVED that this report be made available to all Members of the Council in advance of the Council Tax setting meeting on 27th February, and a final report be produced for the Council meeting incorporating the information from preceptors, and the final decisions of the Cabinet on the budget.

Minutes:

The report was divided into 5 Sections as follows:

Section A - Financial Context and Base Budget position

Section B - Investment Income, Borrowings and Grants

Section C - Budget Requirement and Council Tax Issues

Section D - Medium Term Financial Strategy Update

Section E - Advice of Director of Resources

The report also attached the following appendices:

Appendix A - Chief Financial Officer Report

Appendix B - Budget Sensitivity Analysis

Appendix C - Fees and charges for 2018/19

Appendix D - Farnham Park Trust Budgets 2018/19

Section A of the report reminded the Cabinet of the approach they had agreed to budget making in the light of the funding position facing the Council in the coming years. The following table in this section showed the key figures for 2018/19:

	2014/15 £’000	2015/16 £’000	2016/17 £’000	2017/18 £’000	2018/19 £’000
Business Rate Baseline	11,701	11,925	12,024	11,712	12,200
Business Rate Tariff	-10,716	-10,921	-11,012	-10,680	-11,136
Baseline Need	985	1,004	1,012	1,032	1,064
Revenue Support Grant	1,161	871	436	57	0
Transitional Grant	0	0	80	80	0
Total	2,146	1,875	1,528	1,169	1,064
Year on Year Change (£k)		-271	-347	-359	-105
Year on Year Change (%)		-13%	-19%	-23%	-9%

Section B explained that the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy for 2018/19 aims to deliver an investment income for 2018/19 of £150k. This was a significant reduction on historic figures due to the Council’s strategic decision to undertake prudential borrowing as part of the funding strategy for its Capital Strategy and Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Section C set out the amendments to the draft budget made since the December Cabinet meeting and the overall effect of these changes was summarised in a table in paragraph 4.13 of the report. The Budget Requirement of £7,398k would result in a council tax increase of £5 (3.3%) which was the maximum permitted for the Council by the Government. The draft budget proposes using earmarked reserves as follows:

· Local Development Document (LDD) reserve, £392,651. This was to fund the estimated costs in 2018/19 of progressing the joint Local Plan (£248,700), the estimated cost of investigating setting up a Community Infrastructure Levy (£42,042), costs associated with the shared service implementation (£32,991) and Planning Digitalisation costs (£68,918).

· National Infrastructure Reserve, £5,000

· Economic Development Reserve, £42,000

The proposed 2018/19 budget did not require any use of the General Reserve which was an improvement on the position reported to Cabinet in December.

In connection with Section D, the Cabinet’s attention was drawn to the key principles of the Medium Term Financial Strategy. The table in paragraph 4.20 set out the current Medium Term Financial projections which showed a future funding gap for the Authority that would need to be addressed from 2019/20 onwards. The Cabinet noted the importance of ensuring that officers and members work together to review the Medium Term Financial Strategy and the proposed savings within it before the detailed budget work for 2019/20 commences, in order to address the current forecast gap. The Cabinet welcomed the setting up of an Overview and Scrutiny Task and Finish Group to consider the Medium Term Financial Strategy and savings options.

The Cabinet congratulated the Director of Resources and the Finance Team for setting a budget which does not require any use of the General Reserve and thanked the team for all their hard work.

After considering the advice of the Director of Resources as set out in detail in Section E which also set out the key strategic risks facing the Council, the Cabinet

RECOMMENDED to Full Council that