Agenda item

Please note that in accordance with The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, a recorded vote will be taken for this agenda item.

A report was submitted setting out the recommendations of Cabinet for the Revenue and Capital Budgets for 2015/16 and the recommendations for setting the 2015/16 Council Tax.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Resources and Support Services introduced the report and thanked the Executive Director for Finance and Resources and his team for all of the work that had gone into preparing and balancing the budgets.

 

The following amendment was moved by Cllr Jones and seconded by Cllr Sweeney:

 

To add at the end of the existing recommendations in Appendix A the words:

 

That the proposed cut (ref A7 of appendix C. page 31) of £15,000 in the grant to Parish/Town Councils for concurrent functions be removed. That this be funded by reducing the proposed contribution to the Revenue Investment Fund (ref A8 of appendix C page 31) from £50,000 to £35,000.

 

A vote was taken on the amendment as follows:

 

29 voted in favour

0 voted against

27 abstained

 

The amendment was carried.

 

A second amendment was proposed by Cllr Sweeney and seconded by Cllr Loades:

 

To add at the end of the existing recommendations in Appendix A the words:

 

That option 4 of the report of the Concurrent Funding Task and Finish Group be implemented to "Establish a more closely monitored system". In particular:

that a cross-party monitoring group be established. Prior to any grant money being issued in April 2015 individual Towns and Parishes would need to provide this group with proof that the grant for 2014/15 has been used in full and for its intended purpose. Failure to do so could result in an amount equivalent to any shortfall being deducted from the grant for 2015/16.

 

AND that the cross-party group pursue other matters the group feels is of concern for future arrangements.

 

A vote was taken with all Cllrs voting in favour of the amendment which was carried.

 

A third amendment was proposed by Cllr Jones and seconded by Cllr Sweeney:

 

To add at the end of the existing recommendation in Appendix A the words:

 

That this Council recommends that the number of cabinet members be cut from seven to six and the savings made be allocated to the Revenue Investment Fund

 

The Leader clarified that only he could determine the number of Cllrs on Cabinet within the restrictions of the Council’s constitution and it was therefore confirmed that the amendment was a recommendation to the Leader rather that a decision to be made by Council.

 

A vote was taken in relation to making the recommendation to the Leader and was as follows:

 

27 voted in favour

29 abstained

 

An amendment was moved by Cllr Miss Reddish and seconded by Cllr Sweeney as follows:

 

To add at the end of the existing recommendation in Appendix A the words:

 

3. That the current expenditure (estimated at £35,000+) on servicing the Local Action Partnerships be reviewed in order to:

 

a) investigate if it is giving value for money,

and

b) explore alternative ways of operating local community partnerships.

 

The Portfolio holder confirmed that she consented to the amendment and that a report would be brought to Cabinet in March.

 

All members were in favour of the amendment which was carried.

 

The Executive Director for Resources and Support Services confirmed that the agreed amendments would require some changes to the figures in Appendix B page 25 of the agenda as follows:

 

Under Central Services the estimate for 2015/16 would now be £3,455,410 and the basic Band D Council Tax figure would be 98.04.

 

Under Net Operating Expenditure the figure for the contribution to/ (from) Revenue Reserves would be (£604,530) for the Estimate 2015/16 and the figure for Basic Band D council Tax would be (£17.15).

 

Members then moved to vote on the new substantive motion which was moved by Cllr Shenton and seconded by Cllr Stubbs.

 

A named vote was taken and all members present voted in favour.

 

Resolved:

 

(a)        That the Revenue Budget for 2015/16 be approved, as set out in Appendix B (with the above amendments).

 

(b)        That the Council Tax at Band ‘D’ be £176.93, unchanged from 2014/15.

 

(c)        That the Capital Programme to 2015/16 be approved as set out in Appendix F, together with the Prudential Indicator relating to the Incremental Impact of Capital Investment Decisions on the Council Tax, as set out in paragraph 8.6.

 

(d)        That the minimum balances requirement be confirmed as £1,300,000, unchanged from a year ago.

 

(e)        That a budget of £139,280 be approved in respect of Keele master-planning costs to be funded from an earmarked reserve established by transferring an equivalent amount into it from the General Fund revenue account, being the estimated council tax surplus of £139,280 which will be credited to the revenue account in 2015/16.

 

(f)         That with respect to the discretion allowed by reforms to Council Tax legislation detailed within The Local Government Finance Act 2012 for charges in respect of Class C exemptions, that the current 100 per cent discount for 56 days  be reduced to 28 days and thereafter this be reduced to 0 per cent, with an occupation period of at least 42 days required before a further 100% exemption can be applied.

 

 (g)       That it be noted that at its meeting on the 15 January 2014 the Cabinet calculated the following amounts for the year 2015/16:

 

(i)            35,242 being the amount calculated by the Council, in accordance with        regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base)  (England) Regulations 2012, as its council tax base for the whole Council area for the year (Item T in the formula in Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the “Act”))

 

(ii)           For dwellings in those parts of the Council’s area to which a Parish precept relates as in the table below:

 

Kidsgrove Loggerheads Audley Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill Chapel and Hill Chorlton Keele Madeley Maer Silverdale Whitmore

6,387 1,859 2,450 564 194 331 1,413 253 1,410 803

 

(h)        That the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2015/16 (excluding Parish precepts) is £6,235,370.

 

(i)         That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2015/16 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

 

(i)            £72,486,159 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (2) of the Act taking into account all precepts issued to it by Parish Councils.

 

(ii)           £65,945,083 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (3) of the Act.

 

(iii)          £6,541,076 being the amount by which the aggregate at (i)(i) above exceeds the aggregate at (i)(ii) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31A (4) of the Act, as its Council Tax requirement for the year. (Item R in the formula in Section 31B of the Act).

 

(iv)          £185.60 being the amount at i (iii) above (Item R), all divided by Item T (g (i) above),  calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year (including Parish precepts).

 

(v)           £305,709 being the aggregate amount of all special items (Parish precepts) referred to in Section 34 (1) of the Act.

 

(vi)          £176.93 being the amount at (i) (iv) above less the result given by dividing the amount at (i) (v) above by item T (g (i) above), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item (Parish precept) relates.

 

(vii)       Part of the Council’s Area

 

	£  p
Audley Parish Council Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill Parish Council Chapel and Hill Chorlton Parish Council Keele Parish Council Kidsgrove Town Council Loggerheads Parish Council Madeley Parish Council Maer Parish Council Silverdale Parish Council Whitmore Parish Council	194.43 194.19 192.41 200.27 191.70 198.23 221.53 195.57 188.91 206.57

 

            Being the amounts given by adding to the amount at (i) (vi) above, the amounts of the special item or items relating to dwellings in those parts of the Council’s area mentioned above, divided in each case by the amount at (g) (ii) above calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 34(3) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate.

 

(viii)	Valuation Bands
Part of the Council’s Area	A      £  p	B      £  p	C      £  p	D      £  p	E      £  p	F      £  p	G      £  p	H      £  p
Kidsgrove Town Council	127.80	149.10	170.40	191.70	234.30	276.89	319.50	383.40
Loggerheads Parish Council	132.15	154.18	176.20	198.23	242.28	286.33	330.38	396.46
Audley Parish Council	129.62	151.22	172.83	194.43	237.64	280.84	324.05	388.86
Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill Parish Council	129.46	151.03	172.61	194.19	237.35	280.49	323.65	388.38
Chapel and Hill Chorlton Parish Council	128.27	149.65	171.03	192.41	235.17	277.92	320.68	384.82
Keele Parish Council	133.51	155.76	178.02	200.27	244.78	289.27	333.78	400.54
Madeley Parish Council	147.68	172.30	196.91	221.53	270.76	319.98	369.21	443.06
Maer Parish Council	130.38	152.11	173.84	195.57	239.03	282.48	325.95	391.14
Whitmore Parish Council	137.71	160.66	183.62	206.57	252.48	298.37	344.28	413.14
Silverdale Parish Council	125.94	146.93	167.92	188.91	230.89	272.86	314.85	377.82
Other Parts of Borough Area	117.95	137.61	157.27	176.93	216.25	255.56	294.88	353.86

 

 

            Being the amounts given by multiplying the amounts at (i)(vi) and (i)(vii) above by the number which, in the proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in a particular valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation Band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 36(1) of the Act, as the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands.

 

(j)         That it be noted that for the year 2015/16 the major precepting authorities have stated the following amounts in precepts issued to the Council, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for each of the categories of dwelling shown below:-

 

Precepting Authority	Valuation Bands
	A      £  p	B      £  p	C      £  p	D      £  p	E      £  p	F      £  p	G      £  p	H      £  p
Staffordshire County Council	698.19	814.55	930.91	1047.28	1280.01	1512.74	1745.47	2094.56
Staffordshire Fire Authority	45.97	53.64	61.30	68.96	84.28	99.61	114.93	137.92
Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner Staffordshire	118.41	138.14	157.88	177.61	217.08	256.55	296.02	355.22

 

(k)        That having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at (i) (viii) and (j) above, the Council, in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Act, hereby sets the following amounts as the amounts of Council Tax for the year 2015/16 for each of the categories of dwelling shown below:

 

 

 

 

	Valuation Bands
Part of the Council’s Area	A      £  p	B      £  p	C      £  p	D      £  p	E      £  p	F      £  p	G      £  p	H      £  p
Kidsgrove Town Council	990.37	1155.43	1320.49	1485.55	1815.67	2145.79	2475.92	2971.10
Loggerheads Parish Council	994.72	1160.51	1326.29	1492.08	1823.65	2155.23	2486.80	2984.16
Audley Parish Council	992.19	1157.55	1322.92	1488.28	1819.01	2149.74	2480.47	2976.56
Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill Parish Council	992.03	1157.36	1322.70	1488.04	1818.72	2149.39	2480.07	2976.08
Chapel and Hill Chorlton Parish Council	990.84	1155.98	1321.12	1486.26	1816.54	2146.82	2477.10	2972.52
Keele Parish Council	996.08	1162.09	1328.11	1494.12	1826.15	2158.17	2490.20	2988.24
Madeley Parish Council	1010.25	1178.63	1347.00	1515.38	1852.13	2188.88	2525.63	3030.76
Maer Parish Council	992.95	1158.44	1323.93	1489.42	1820.40	2151.38	2482.37	2978.84
Whitmore Parish Council	1000.28	1166.99	1333.71	1500.42	1833.85	2167.27	2500.70	3000.84
Silverdale Parish Council	988.51	1153.26	1318.01	1482.76	1812.26	2141.76	2471.27	2965.52
Other Parts of Borough Area	980.52	1143.94	1307.36	1470.78	1797.62	2124.46	2451.30	2941.56

 

 

(l)         That the proposed cut (ref A7 of appendix C. page 31) of £15,000 in the grant to Parish/Town Councils for concurrent functions be removed. That this be funded by reducing the proposed contribution to the Revenue Investment Fund (ref A8 of appendix C page 31) from £50,000 to £35,000.

 

(m)      That option 4 of the report of the Concurrent Funding Task and Finish Group be implemented to "Establish a more closely monitored system". In particular: that a cross-party monitoring group be established. Prior to any grant money being issued in April 2015 individual Towns and Parishes would need to provide this group with proof that the grant for 2014/15 has been used in full and for its intended purpose. Failure to do so could result in an amount equivalent to any shortfall being deducted from the grant for 2015/16.

AND that the cross-party group pursue other matters the group feels is of concern for future arrangements.

 

(n)        That the current expenditure (estimated at £35,000+) on servicing the Local Action Partnerships be reviewed in order to:

 

a) investigate if it is giving value for money,

and

b) explore alternative ways of operating local community partnerships.