Decision details

Executive's Revenue Budget Proposals 2020/21 & MTFS 2021/22 - 2022/23

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: Yes

Is subject to call in?: No

Decision:

That it be recommended to Council that it :-

 

a)    Approves the 2020/21 net Revenue Budget of £175.20m.

 

b)    Approves the 2021/22 to 2022/23 Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) including the income and savings proposals.

 

c)    Approves the calculation of the Council Tax Requirement as summarised in Section 9.1 and set out in the Formal Council Tax Resolution in Annex K (any update for changes in Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner or Mayoral General (incl. Fire Services) Precepts, if any, will be tabled at the Council Meeting);

 

d)    Approves the proposal to increase Council Tax by 3.99% in 2020/21:

o   1.99% general increase in the ‘relevant basic amount’ in 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23, and

o   2% for the ‘Adult Social Care’ precept in 2020/21.

 

e)    Approves the planned application of earmarked reserves as detailed in Section 6, Para 6.4.2

 

f)     Approves the Fees and Charges for 2020/21 and those relating to Registration of Births, Death & Marriages also shown for 2021/22, as set out in the Fees & Charges booklet.

 

g)    Delegates authority jointly to each Corporate Director in consultation with the Corporate Director of Finance and Systems to amend fees and charges during 2020/21 in the event of any change in VAT rate, as appropriate.

 

h)    Delegates authority jointly to each Corporate Director in consultation with the Corporate Director of Finance and Systems to amend fees and charges during 2020/21 where the economics of the charge levels have changed (e.g. costs have risen unexpectedly), or for commercial reasons.

 

i)      Approves the proposal to maintain the minimum level of General Reserve for 2020/21 at £7.0m, the same level as in 2019/20 (Section 6.6).

 

j)      Approves the Capital Strategy, Prudential and Local Indicators and overall level of the Capital Programme and Asset Investment Fund of £368.72m (as detailed in the Capital Strategy, Capital Programme & Prudential Indicators 2020/23) of which £262.11m relates to 2020/21; including the proposal in relation to £106.92 million of new prudential borrowing.

 

k)    Approves the Treasury Management Strategy 2020/21 to 2022/23, including the debt strategy (Section 3), the Treasury Investment Strategy (Section 5) and the Prudential Indicators, including the Authorised Limit (as required by Section 3(1) of the Local Government Act 2003, Operational Boundary, Minimum Revenue Provision and investment criteria as set out in Appendix 3 of the report.

 

l)      Approves the proposed distribution of Dedicated Schools Grant as recommended by the School Funding Forum and Executive as summarised in Section 8 and detailed in Annex J.

 

m)  Due to the late publication of the Final Local Government Finance Settlement, Council delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Finance and Systems in consultation with the Executive Member for Finance and Investment to vary the level of Budget Support Reserve needed to balance the 2020/21 revenue budget in the event of any change at final settlement.

 

and confirmed that in recommending approval of the above, it has taken into consideration :

 

n)    The objective assessment by the Corporate Director of Finance and Systems of the robustness of budget estimates and adequacy of the financial reserves (Section 6 and Annex I).

 

o)    The Executive’s response to the Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations to the budget proposals as included in a separate report on the agenda.

 

p)    The Council’s Public Sector Equality duty.

 

q)    The results of the consultation on the budget proposals where required.

 

In addition, that it be recommended that Council notes the following :

 

r)     The approval on 18 January 2020 under delegated powers by the Corporate Director of Finance and Systems of the Council Tax Base for 2020/21 at 77,386 Band D equivalents.

 

s)    the calculation of the estimated Council Tax surplus, sufficient to release £(1.216)million to support the Council’s 2020/21 revenue budget and a distribution of £(180)k and £(70)k representing the respective shares of the Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner Precept and Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services). 

 

t)     The base budget assumptions as set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) as detailed in Annex A.

 

u)    The budget gap for the two years 2021/22, £15.01m and 2022/23, £5.66m.

 

v)    That the Capital Programme for 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 is to be set at an indicative £262.11m, £60.37m and £46.24m respectively (indicative at this stage as a number of capital grants not yet known).

 

w)   That the Council Tax figures included in the report for the Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner Precept and Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services) are the recommended provisional amounts pending their formal approval.

Urgent item?: Yes

Publication date: 04/03/2020

Date of decision: 19/02/2020

Decided at meeting: 19/02/2020 - Executive

Accompanying Documents: