Agenda item

A report was submitted setting out the recommendations of Cabinet for the revenue and capital budgets for 2013/14 and the setting of the 2013/14 council tax.

 

The Finance and Budget Management portfolio holder, Councillor Stubbs, undertook a presentation on the proposals.

 

The recommendations in the report having been moved by Councillor Stubbs and seconded by Councillor Boden, the following amendment was proposed by Councillor Jones:-

 

That, in Appendix A, recommendation (g), the following be added after the words “be agreed”:-

 

“…and various options be explored to invest in long-term sustainable green energy-saving devices such as solar panels on properties owned by the council.”

 

The amendment was accepted by the mover of the original motion, Councillor Stubbs, and became part of the substantive motion.

 

The following amendment was then moved by Councillor Sweeney and seconded by Councillor Howells:-

 

That, after the words “…set out in appendix A”, the following be added:-

 

“To cancel the planned increase in Admission fees and Parking charges for customers of Jubilee 2 (to value of £25,000)

 

“To support our local Community Centres and their Management Committees by increasing their Repairs and Maintenance Budget (to value of £25,750)

 

“To decrease the Council Tax by 1% (Newcastle under Lyme levy – to value of £70,000)

 

“To raise £82,500 by making a nominal £1.50 per day charge per council employee parking on Council work place car parks (over 9 months further to statutory consultation period of 90 days) in 2013/14 which will rise to £110,000 over a full year

 

“To raise £5,000 by making a nominal £1.50 per day charge per councillor (i.e. who park in Council work place car parks on an occasional basis)

 

“To raise £13,500 by capping car mileage rates paid to council staff to the HM Revenue and Customs rate of 45p per mile (over 9 months further to statutory consultation period of 90 days) in 2013/14 which will rise to £18,000 over a full year

 

“To raise £9,750 by the removal of evening meeting allowance payments

(over 9 months further to statutory consultation period of 90 days) in 2013/14 which will rise to £13,000 over a full year

 

“To raise £10,000 by the abolition of the 7^th cabinet member and a return to daytime Cabinet meetings”

 

Following debate, the amendment was put to the vote and lost.

 

As chair of the Transformation and Resources Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Shenton remarked on the success of the process by which the budget proposals had been scrutinised both formally in committee and through the Scrutiny Café initiative.  Scrutiny would continue to monitor the budget going forward.  She thanked the officers for the clarity of information provided.

 

The Leader also thanked the Finance team for the work undertaken to make the proposals clear and transparent and noted that the number of respondents through the stakeholder events had been in the region of 650.  He believed that the proposals would put the council on a firm footing for a strong future and offered to work with any member in the chamber to achieve this.

 

As the substantive motion was put to the vote, a recorded vote was requested by the Leader and 12 other members rising in their seats to support the request.  The motion was carried.

 

The following members voted for the motion:-

 

Councillors Allport, Astle, Bailey, Baker, Bates, Beech, Boden, Burgess, Burnett, Cairns, Clarke, Eagles, Eastwood, S Hambleton, T Hambleton, Johnson, Jones, Kearon, Lawton, M Olszewski, S Olszewski, Plant, Reddish, Robinson, Shenton, Simpson, Snell, Stringer, Stubbs, J Taylor, Turner, Walklate, Waring, Wemyss, G Williams, J Williams and Winfield (37)

 

The following members voted against the motion:-

 

None (0)

 

The following members abstained:-

 

Councillors Becket, John Cooper, Julie Cooper, Fear, L Hailstones, P Hailstones, Heames, Heesom, Holland, Howells, Loades, Mancey, Matthews, Peers and Sweeney (15)

 

The following members were not present during the vote:-

 

Councillors Bannister, Cornes, Studd, Tagg, M Taylor, Welsh, White and Wilkes (8)

 

Resolved:

 

(a)        That the Revenue Budget for 2013/14 be approved in the sum of £13,169,360 (£14,118,640 net expenditure less £949,280 council tax support grant) as set out in Appendix B.

 

(b)        That the Council Tax at Band ‘D’ be £176.93, unchanged from 2012/13.

 

(c)        That the Capital Programme to 2013/14 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.

 

(d)        That the revised minimum balances requirement be £1,300,000 and the excess of £200,000 above the current levels be transferred to the Insurance Fund (£150,000) and the Renewals and Repairs Fund (£50,000).

 

(e)        That £80,000 be transferred from the Standards Fund into the Municipal Mutual Insurance Provision.

 

(f)         That a Revenue Investment Fund be established with an initial contribution of £100,000 from the General Fund Revenue Budget in 2013/14.

 

(g)        That the principle of financing “invest to save” projects from the Budget Support Fund, as outlined in paragraph 4.9 of the report, be agreed and various options be explored to invest in long-term sustainable green energy-saving devices such as solar panels on properties owned by the council.

 

(h)        That it be noted that at its meeting on the 16 January 2013 the Cabinet calculated the following amounts for the year 2013/14:

 

(i)         34,361 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

6,259 1,839 2,423 566 186 315 1,413 245 808 1,240

 

(i)         That the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2013/14 (excluding Parish precepts) is £6,079,430.

 

(j)         That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2013/14 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

 

(i)                  £62,375,343 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)                £56,003,240 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (3) of the Act.

 

(iii)               £6,372,103 being the amount by which the aggregate at (j)(i) above exceeds the aggregate at (j)(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)              £185.45 being the amount at j (iii) above (Item R), all divided by Item T (h (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)                £292,673 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 (j) (iv) above less the result given by dividing the amount at (j) (v) above by item T (h (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

 

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

£196.10 £194.19 £192.16 £199.81 £191.70 £198.39 £221.53 £195.57 £184.92 £197.97

 

Being the amounts given by adding to the amount at (j) (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 (h) (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	276.90	319.50	383.40
Loggerheads Parish Council	132.26	154.31	176.35	198.39	242.47	286.56	330.65	396.78
Audley Parish Council	130.74	152.52	174.31	196.10	239.68	283.25	326.84	392.20
Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill Parish Council	129.46	151.04	172.61	194.19	237.34	280.49	323.65	388.38
Chapel and Hill Chorlton Parish Council	128.11	149.46	170.81	192.16	234.86	277.56	320.27	384.32
Keele Parish Council	133.21	155.41	177.61	199.81	244.21	288.61	333.02	399.62
Madeley Parish Council	147.69	172.30	196.92	221.53	270.76	319.98	369.22	443.06
Maer Parish Council	130.38	152.11	173.84	195.57	239.03	282.49	325.95	391.14
Whitmore Parish Council	131.98	153.98	175.97	197.97	241.96	285.95	329.95	395.94
Silverdale Parish Council	123.28	143.83	164.37	184.92	226.01	267.10	308.20	369.84
Other Parts of Borough Area	117.96	137.61	157.27	176.93	216.25	255.56	294.89	353.86

 

 

Being the amounts given by multiplying the amounts at (j)(vi) and (j)(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.

 

(k)        That it be noted that for the year 2013/14 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	684.83	798.97	913.11	1027.25	1255.53	1483.81	1712.08	2054.50
Staffordshire Fire Authority	45.09	52.61	60.12	67.64	82.67	97.70	112.73	135.28
Staffordshire Police Authority	118.41	138.14	157.88	177.61	217.08	256.55	296.02	355.22

 

(l)         That having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at (j) (viii) and (k) 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 2013/14 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	976.13	1138.82	1301.51	1464.20	1789.58	2114.96	2440.33	2928.40
Loggerheads Parish Council	980.59	1144.03	1307.46	1470.89	1797.75	2124.62	2451.48	2941.78
Audley Parish Council	979.07	1142.24	1305.42	1468.60	1794.96	2121.31	2447.67	2937.20
Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill Parish Council	977.79	1140.76	1303.72	1466.69	1792.62	2118.55	2444.48	2933.38
Chapel and Hill Chorlton Parish Council	976.44	1139.18	1301.92	1464.66	1790.14	2115.62	2441.10	2929.32
Keele Parish Council	981.54	1145.13	1308.72	1472.31	1799.49	2126.67	2453.85	2944.62
Madeley Parish Council	996.02	1162.02	1328.03	1494.03	1826.04	2158.04	2490.05	2988.06
Maer Parish Council	978.71	1141.83	1304.95	1468.07	1794.31	2120.55	2446.78	2936.14
Whitmore Parish Council	980.31	1143.70	1307.08	1470.47	1797.24	2124.01	2450.78	2940.94
Silverdale Parish Council	971.61	1133.55	1295.48	1457.42	1781.29	2105.16	2429.03	2914.84
Other Parts of Borough Area	966.29	1127.33	1288.38	1449.43	1771.53	2093.62	2415.72	2898.86