Issue - meetings

(a) That the assumptions set out in the report be approved.

(b) That Cabinet confirm that no Council Tax increase is proposed in 2013/14.

(c) That the Transformation and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee be asked to consider what comments it wishes to make on the draft Budget and Council Tax proposals before the final proposals are considered at Cabinet in February 2013.

A report was received reviewing progress on the completion of the revenue and capital budgets for 2013/14 following agreement of the 5 year Medium Term Financial Strategy, to enable Cabinet to recommend a robust and affordable budget for 2013/14 to the Council meeting on 27 February 2013.

It was considered that the Council was in a good position regarding the budget setting process, as there was still a month before it would be considered by Full Council. Cabinet wished to thank the Budget Review Group, the Finance team, Heads of Service and all other Officers involved for the work they had undertaken in demanding circumstances. Credit was given to the Finance Officers who had turned around the Revenue and Capital Budget, considering the lateness of the financial settlement which was received on 20 December and the many changes to such areas as business rates. The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Recycling also thanked Officers for making the budget an easy read.

It was a budget without redundancies, where there would be cuts to spending, with no effect to frontline services. There would be a freeze to Council Tax and funding would be available for a number of priorities including the Town Centre Manager, apprenticeships and home security. £100,000 had been placed in a Revenue Investment Fund to improve revenue streams. The headline figure in the press was that there would be a 2.1% reduction in spending; the figure was more realistically 5.5%. The reduction was expected to be 12-13% in 2014/2015.

It had been a positive step to bring forward the publication of the timetable to before Christmas, to make for greater Member involvement. A Budget Scrutiny Café was taking place on 17 January and effort had been made to make setting the budget an open process.

The question was raised as to whether in future years reserves would be placed into revenue streams. The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Budget Management confirmed the aim in 2014/15 was for a ‘clean budget’, where the budget would not be dependent upon reserves. The current draft settlement for 2014/15 would mean a gap of £1.5 million to bridge, meaning a ‘clean budget’ was an aggressive aim to meet.

One final report relating to the budget would be submitted to Cabinet in February. This would include a review of the balances and reserves and the comments and feedback from the Budget Scrutiny Café and the Transformation and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 24 January.

It was noted that due to the lateness of receiving the settlement, it had not been possible to convey the necessary information to the Parish Councils. An email had been prepared which was ready to the sent to the Parish Clerks the following morning. This contained the information they would need for their meetings the following night to set their precepts. The Council had offered to help the Parish Councils who did not want to increase their precepts, but the decision about whether to do so or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7