Meeting documents

"That the Authority be recommended to note and have due regard to the report and Statement of the Chief Finance Officer (Section 8 of Annex A)"

"Approve a Council Tax precept of £64.57 for a band D equivalent property (a 2.98% increase from 2018/19 – equal to 3.6p per week) and the revenue budget as set out in Appendix 1(b)"

"Approve the capital programme as set out in Appendix 2"

"Discuss the implications of holding a referendum to increase Council Tax above the 3% threshold in a future year"

The report considered by the Executive Committee is attached at Item 8(c)

The above recommendations are recommendations from officers to the Executive Committee. Revisions, if any, will follow.

The Lead Member for Finance, IT and Procurement introduced the report and advised Members that the main report presented the proposed revenue and capital Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for the financial years 2019/20 to 2021/22. The most significant change from last year related to employer pension contributions. The initial report from the Government’s Actuary Department suggested that the employers’ contribution for the firefighter’s scheme would increase from 17.6% to 30.2%. The impact on the Authority would be an increase of annual contributions of £1.6m. The Treasury had said that for 2019/20 it would fund 90% of this amount. That left the Authority in a position of uncertainty the year after.

The Director of Finance and Assets advised Members, that as the Lead Member for Finance, IT and Procurement had already stated, the main pressure this year had been the pensions contribution increasing by £1.6m.

The Director of Finance and Assets drew Members attention to the updated appendices. The main changes were in terms of business rates: there was a £165k shortfall from what had been projected and this was primarily due to business rate volatility. There was a small additional increase in Council Tax surplus of £8k from what was originally projected.

As well as the uncertainty regarding pensions noted above, there was also significant uncertainly regarding next year’s Comprehensive Spending Review, Fair Funding Review, USAR funding and funding for Firelink/ESMCP. In order to effectively plan for the future, during 2019/20 Officers would be taking a zero-based budgeting approach to develop budgets for a number of potential scenarios. These would be developed alongside the new Public Safety Plan.

The Director of Finance and Assets advised Members that as part of looking at a zero based budget, the Authority would look at all possible expenditure as well as all possible income and one potential source of additional income was to hold a referendum. Section 9 of the report looked at the cost of holding a referendum.

The Director of Legal and Governance advised Members that the report set out the limitations, prescriptions and constraints of holding a referendum and its process. If after undertaking a zero based budget in 2020/21 the Authority were to look to notify the billing authorities that it was going to set an excess precept, it would need to make that notification by 8 March 2020. As stated in the report, there had only been one referendum before (Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner) and that had received a negative response. The challenges were not to be under estimated.

The Director of Legal and Governance highlighted to Members that at present there were five billing authorities, Milton Keynes Council and the four district councils across Buckinghamshire. If the Authority were to notify the four billing authorities across Buckinghamshire on the 8 March 2020, the reality was that on 1 April 2020, those billing authorities would cease to exist, they would be superseded by the new Buckinghamshire Council. As Members were aware the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government was responsible for the Statutory Instrument making the reorganisation across Buckinghamshire and without pre judging where the Authority might be in 2020, Members might wish to communicate with the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP.

The Director of Legal and Governance advised Members that whatever happened in the reorganisation, nothing in the transitional provisions should prejudice the ability, should the Authority so wish, to create a referendum scenario in 2020. If the Authority were to advise the billing authorities on 8 March 2020, they wouldn’t exist after 1 April 2020, so it would need to make sure that the new corporate body Buckinghamshire Council would still be able to conduct the referendum.

Members agreed that Officers would write to the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP requesting that his department ensure that the transitional provisions establishing the new Buckinghamshire Council would safeguard the new Council’s ability to organise a Council Tax referendum on behalf of the Authority.

The Chairman advised Members that he along with the Chief Fire Officer would continue to lobby Government on behalf of the Authority for precept flexibility.

A Member asked what the Authority’s assumption for Council Tax surplus would be for futures years and was advised that the Authority was budgeting £250k per annum moving forward and that compared with the £278k budgeted for this year.

A Member asked if starting with 2015/16, the year when the Authority reduced its Council Tax precept by 1%, what was the additional amount available through the precept in 2019/20 if the Authority had set the Council Tax each year at the maximum allowed without a Referendum and was advised that had the maximum increase been applied from 2015/16 onwards it would be approximately £586,000.

A Member asked what the assumptions around business rates reset and the fair funding review coming up was and was advised that the assumption the Authority was taking was based on what the Home Office working assumption was. The Home Office had included the revenue support grant and business rates into one as part of the settlement funding assessment, then applied a 5% cut per annum.

RESOLVED –

1(a) That the report and Statement of the Chief Finance Officer (Section 8 of Annex A) be noted;

1(b) A Council Tax precept of £64.57 for a band D equivalent property (a 2.98% increase from 2018/19 – equal to 3.6p per week) and the revenue budget as set out in Appendix 1(b) be approved;

1(c) The capital programme as set out in Appendix 2 be approved;

It being proposed and seconded:

RESOLVED –

2.         That Officers write to the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP requesting that his department ensures that the transitional provisions establishing the new Buckinghamshire Council will safeguard the new Council’s ability to organise a Council Tax referendum on behalf of Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority.       

Details of the recorded vote are set out below: