Issue - meetings

(Finance Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report.

Mover: Councillor G Mohindra, Finance Portfolio Holder

Councillor G Mohindra presented a report on the Budget and Council Tax Declarations for 2018/19. He thanked Finance Officers for an excellent budget and sound financial advice.

There voted for the recommendations (41) namely: R Baldwin, R Bassett, A Beales, N Bedford, H Brady, W Breare-Hall, R Butler, G Chambers, D Dorrell, R Gadsby, L Girling, A Grigg, L Hughes, B Jennings, H Kane, S Kane, H Kauffman, P Keska, J Knapman, A Lion, L Mead, G Mohindra, S Neville, A Patel, J Philip, C C Pond, C P Pond, C Roberts, D Roberts, B Sandler, M Sartin, G Shiell, P Stalker, D Stallan, D Sunger, E Webster, C Whitbread, H Whitebread, J H Whitehouse, J M Whitehouse and D Wixley.

There voted against the recommendation (1) namely: S Murray

Abstentions (2) namely: R Brookes and S Heap.

Report as first moved ADOPTED

RESOLVED:

Budget

(1)          That the list of CSB growth and savings for the 2018/19 budget (set out in Annex 1) be approved;

(2)        That the list of District Development Fund and Invest to Save items for the 2018/19 budget (set out in Annexes 2 and 3 to these minutes) be approved;

(3)        That the revenue estimates for 2018/19 and the draft Capital Programme for 2018/19 be approved as set out in Annexes 4, 5 (a-f) and 6 to these minutes including all contributions to and from reserves as set out in the attached Annexes;

(4)        That the Medium Term Financial Strategy be approved as set out in Annexes 9 a and 9 b to these minutes;

(5)        That the 2018/19 HRA budget be approved on the basis that the contribution to the self-financing reserve continues to be suspended, and that the application of rent decreases resulting in an average decrease of 1% from £96.30 to £95.34, be approved;

(6)        That the Council's policy of retaining revenue balances at no lower than £4.0M or 25% of the net budget requirement whichever is the higher for the four year period to 2020/21 be amended to no lower than £4.0M or 25% of the net budget requirement whichever is the higher during the four year period up to and including 2021/22;

(7)        That the report of the Chief Financial Officer on the robustness of the estimates for the purposes of the Council’s 2018/19 budgets and the adequacy of the reserves (Annex 10 attached to these minutes) be noted.

Declaration of Council Tax

(8)        That it be noted that under delegated authority the Director of Resources, in consultation with the Finance Portfolio Holder, calculated the Council Tax Base 2018/19:

(a)           for the whole Council area as 53,562.8 (Item T in the formula in Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended); and

(b)           for dwellings in those parts of its area to which a Parish precept relates as set out below and in Annex 7 attached to these minutes:

Tax Base

Abbess, Beauchamp & Berners Roding                                                      224.1

Buckhurst Hill                                                                                            5,211.0

Chigwell  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101

(Director of Finance) To consider the attached report (C-046-2017/18).

(1)        That the following guidelines for the Council’s General Fund Budget in 2018/19 be recommended to the Council for adoption:

            (a)        the revised revenue estimates for 2017/18, which were anticipated to             increase the General Fund balance by £0.53million;

(b)        a decrease in the target for the 2018/19 Continuing Services Budget (CSB) from £12.92million to £11.91million (including growth items);

(c)        an increase in the target for the 2018/19 District Development Fund (DDF) net spend from £0.93milion to £3.91million;

(d)        an increase of 2.48% in the District Council Tax for a Band ‘D’ property to raise the charge from £148.77 to £152.46;

(e)        the estimated increase in General Fund balances in 2018/19 of £0.99million;

            (f)         the five year Capital Programme for the period 2017/18 – 21/22;

(g)        the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the period 2017/18 – 21/22; and

(h)        the Council’s policy on General Fund Revenue Balances to remain that they be allowed to fall no lower than 25% of the Net Budget Requirement;

(2)        That the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for 2018/19, including the revised revenue estimates for 2017/18, be recommended to the Council for approval;

(3)        That the Council be requested to note that the rent reductions proposed for 2018/19 would give an average overall fall of 1%; and

(4)        That the Chief Financial Officer’s report to the Council on the robustness of the estimates for the purposes of the Council’s 2018/19 budgets and the adequacy of the reserves be noted.

The Finance Portfolio Holder presented a report on the Council Budgets for 2018/19.

The Portfolio Holder set out the detailed recommendations for the Council’s budget for 2018/19. It was intended to add £990,000 to the reserves and the Council’s policy on the level of reserves could be maintained throughout the period of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). However, the Strategy indicated that it would be necessary to use reserves to support the provision of services with contributions of £387,000 in 2020/21 and £557,000 in 2021/22. The budget was based on the assumptions that the Council Tax would increase by 2.48% and that average Housing Revenue Account rents will decrease by 1% in 2018/19.

The Portfolio Holder highlighted the Chief Financial Officer’s report to the Council on the robustness of the estimates for the purposes of the Council’s 2018/19 budgets and the adequacy of the reserves within the budget report. It stated that the estimates as presented were sufficiently robust for the purposes of the Council’s overall budget for 2018/19. In addition, the Council’s reserves were adequate to cope with the financial risks facing the Council in 2018/19, but further savings would be needed in subsequent years to bring the budget back into balance in the medium term. However, there were particular concerns about the delivery of the savings from Transformation, the introduction of a new system of “Fair Funding” and the difficulties in estimating income from the retention of business rates.

The Portfolio Holder added that an opportunity had arisen to progress some of the staff changes under the People Strategy more quickly than originally anticipated to speed up the transformation process. Therefore, it was proposed to bring forward £300,000 of District Development Funding from 2018/19 to 2017/18, and this would necessitate an amendment to recommendation 1(c) in the report to read “an increase in the target for the 2018/19 District Development Fund (DDF) net spend from £0.93milion to £3.91million;“.

The Portfolio Holder acknowledged that this would be the first proposed rise in the District Council Tax precept for many years, however it would be ring-fenced to fund the additional security measures planned for the District, and the Portfolio Holder expected this rise to be reversed in three years time when the proposed agreement with Essex Police expired. The Director of Resources and his Accountancy team were thanked for their efforts in preparing the budget, which the Cabinet were urged to recommend to the Council for approval.

The Portfolio Holder for Assets & Economic Development informed the Cabinet that the Council would accrue benefits from the developments at St Johns Road in Epping, Pyrles Lane in Loughton and other miscellaneous schemes as detailed in the minutes of the recent meeting of the Asset Management & Economic Development Cabinet Committee.

Cllr Murray reiterated that he could not support the proposed rise in the District Council Tax precept. The standard of living for many residents was falling and they were facing real financial difficulties; the District Council should not be directly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 114