Agenda item

To consider the Council’s financial position over the medium term and set a budget requirement and the level of council tax for 2022/23.

The Strategic Director of Resources presented the report and highlighted the following areas:

The provisional local government financial settlement

·     The provisional settlement was announced on December 16^th 2021 as a one-year settlement.

·     The provisional settlement received was better than anticipated.

·      Any updates on the governments commitment to assess how future funding allocations were decided would be reported to Members.

·      District Councils were allowed a £5 Band D increase for Council Tax.

·      Council Tax base growth was higher this year at Stroud District Council (SDC).

·      The reset of Business Rates Growth had been delayed by a further year.

·      Business Rate Pool income was not included in the base budget as the level of funding available could not be confirmed

·      An additional year of New Homes Bonus grant had been awarded. The District had seen a 1.9% increase in properties and 34% decrease in the number of long-term empty properties.

·      The fair funding review was expected to result in a reduction and best estimates had been included.

Adjustments to revenue budget in future years

• Inflation was a key theme in the budget, at the time of writing the report the Consumer Price Inflation CPI was 5.4%.
• There was no certainty in terms of staffing costs as the pay award had not been agreed.
• A new table had been included to show the changes in the Ubico Contract
• Appendix B highlighted a number of different pressures and showed the changes that were made to the budget. It was confirmed that some of the items that had already been agreed were on hidden rows on the table.
• Appendix C showed adjustments that had been made due to the Council Plan priorities.

Medium Term Financial Plan and the use of reserves

• Set out how the budget would be managed over the medium term.
• There was a significant deficit on the Collection Fund at the end of the last financial year, there was a reserve in place to match the deficit.
• Table 3 showed the balance of the Equalisation Reserve. The Estimated Surplus / (Deficit) row should have been removed.

Capital Programme

• Appendix E showed the full capital programme.
• The figure for the total General Fund for 2022/23 in Table 4 should have been 14,032 instead of 14,012.

Statement of the Chief Financial Officer

• Additional money was being included for a number of council plan priorities and the overall reserve balance had improved.
• The risk of inflation had been flagged.
• Highlighted paragraph 6.6 on page 44.

In response to questions from Councillor Davies the Strategic Director of resources confirmed the following:

• He would be able to provide figures showing the Council Tax collection rates and arrears following the meeting if required. At the end of 2021 the arrears had risen however this year the arrears were falling and the collection rate was stabilising.
• He would need to confirm following the meeting how many of Ubico’s vehicles were low carbon.
• Biodiversity knowledge was scattered throughout the council and this knowledge could be increased for both staff and Councillors.
• The Homelessness Grant varied in Appendix B because there was an assumption that from the following year the level of grant would decrease.
• The New Homes capital programme totals shown on page 65 had been subject to variation between years
• There was an average of 3% increase across parking charges, some tariffs had been frozen in the past as it was difficult to increase small charges without increasing only by pence.

Councillor Hurst asked for assurance that the local plan had been provided with sufficient budget. The Strategic Director of Resources confirmed that as part of the budget setting process they had reviewed the local plan and a reserve of £31k had been included. Further funding would be received for Strategic Planning from the Gloucestershire Economic Development Fund.

In response to Councillor Craig it was confirmed that new posts for additional Officers would mostly be helping to deliver projects for the Council Plan which would be reported to Committees. The performance monitoring process could therefore be used to monitor progress and ensure we are delivering good value.

The Chair, Councillor Cornell, asked whether the water source heat pumps impact had been reflected in the report. The Strategic Director of Resources advised that they would probably see any impact later in the year.

Proposed by Councillor Turner and Seconded by Councillor Brine.

Councillor Brine stated that the report showed that we were in a better position than last year and that the Council now had a council plan which they could set the budget against and KPIs to ensure that progress could be tracked.

Councillor Davies thanked the finance team for the hard work in putting the budget together and stated that the Council had received a good settlement. He questioned whether the council was doing enough and advised that the Council Plan and the measures set against it would mean they could evaluate in the future whether we have had any impact. He stated he was unable to support the budget because it included the HRA and because it included increased car park charges in Stroud at a time when the high streets were under pressure.

Councillor Housden stated that he was pleased to see the following:

• Support from central government was higher than expected.
• Council Tax income was up against the forecast and that arrears have fallen.
• Reserves were up.
• The employment rate was up.
• 1158k increase in salary budgets.

However, he also stated that the budget did not address Climate Change and he would therefore not be supporting the budget.

Councillor Hurst advised that he would, reluctantly, support the budget but highlighted his concerns with the housing retrofit programme.

Councillor Pearson advised that he had some reservations about the capital budget and that he would have preferred to vote separately on Council Tax.

Councillor Braun stated that it was a great budget as it would help us to deliver the council plan. She also drew Members attention to the following:

• Some of the new staff posts could save the Council money.
• The investment included help to tackle the climate emergency.
• The video available on the website showed how every department at the Council was looking to tackle the climate emergency and how it was embedding the 2030 strategy throughout.
• New tourism and Biodiversity posts which highlighted partnership working.

Councillor Craig confirmed that he was in a similar position to Councillor Pearson and advised that there were some aspects that concerned him. He expressed a wish to see more focus on things that produce a real change.

Councillor Ross offered her support for the report and stated it was a measured and good budget.

The Chair, Councillor Cornell, stated that Carbon Neutral (CN) 2030 had been embedded across the organisation and the budget. CN2030 was intrinsically linked to many projects including the health and wellbeing programme.

Councillor Pearcy advised that he was encouraged by the level of investment in sustainability proposed by the budget.

Councillor Turner stated that the budget was reflective of the council plan and that she was happy to see the level of investment in green initiatives.

On being put to the vote, the Motion was passed with 11 votes in favour and 2 against.