Issue - meetings

It was noted that in accordance with council procedure rule 21.6, a recorded vote would be taken on the motion or any amendments and substantive motions.

It was proposed by Councillor Townend and seconded by the Leader, that the recommendations as set out at paragraph 20 of the report be adopted, namely:

“20.1   That Council approve the draft Medium Term Financial Plan at Annex 1.

1.0  That Council approve the draft General Fund Revenue budget estimates for 2016-17 to 2019-20 and the resulting budget requirement for 2016-17.

1.1  That Council approve that the level of general reserves be held at £2.011m, and specific earmarked reserves be used as identified in Annex 5.

1.2  That Council approve the HRA budget estimates for 2016-17 to 2019-20 and the HRA services charges as shown at Annex 3.

1.3  That Council approve the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2016-17 as outlined in para 3.12, which makes no changes to the discounts on empty properties and second homes and continues with a reduction of 5.5% from the Council Tax Support award for those of working age.

1.4  That Council agree to a reduction in the grant to minor preceptors as per section 3.14.

1.5  That Council approve the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Capital Budgets for 2016-17 as detailed at Annexes 2 and 4.”

29 Members voted in favour the motion: Councillors Ashbee, Braidwood, Brimm, Buckley, G. Coleman-Cooke, Connor, Crow-Brown, Dellar, Dennis, Dixon, Edwards, Elenor, Evans, J. Fairbrass, L. Fairbrass, Falcon, Grove, Hillman, Howes, Jaye-Jones, Larkins, Leys, Piper, Potts, Shonk, Stummer-Schmertzing, Taylor, Townend and Wells.

0 Members voted against the motion.

23 Members abstained from voting on the motion: Councillors, Bambridge, Bayford, Campbell, K. Coleman-Cooke, Constantine, Curran, Day, Dexter, Fenner, Game, I. Gregory, K. Gregory, Hayton, Johnston, Matterface, Parsons, Partington, Rogers, D. Saunders, M. Saunders, Savage, Taylor-Smith and Tomlinson.

The motion was carried.

Members considered the comments and recommendations from the extraordinary Overview & Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 26 January 2016 regarding the proposed Council budget for 2016/17 and Medium Term Financial Plan for 2016-2020.

In reviewing the Panel recommendations, Members considered the details of the Cabinet report that was tabled at the meeting, which provided the basis for Cabinet to make its decisions regarding the Panel recommendations.

Councillor I. Gregory and Councillor Taylor-Smith spoke under Council Procedure Rule 24.1.

Councillor Townend proposed, Councillor Stummer-Schmertzing seconded and Members agreed not to accept the recommendation from Overview and Scrutiny Panel based on the reasons set out in section 3.0 of the Cabinet report that is attached as Annex 1 to the minutes.

In introducing the item for debate, Tim Willis, Director of Corporate Resources & S151 Officer said that the report before the Panel was the same as the one that was considered and adopted by Cabinet on 19 January 2016. He requested Members to note that Table 1 (External Funding) should be denoted in ‘£thousands’ and not ‘£millions.’ An additional recommendation on second homes discounts and empty properties exemptions for Council tax would be included in the report to go to Council on 4 February 2016 as these were Council functions rather than Cabinet.

As a prelude to presenting the budget to Cabinet a number of briefings had been held for Members to inform Members about the budget process and framework to be used to set the 2016/17 Council budget. The economic and financial environment in which the budget was being set was challenging. It was important that in making recommendations to Full Council on the budget proposals to adopt, reliable funding sources be identified.

Government Funding and Council Tax

Tim Willis advised that if the Council collected more Council Tax that it budgeted for then there would be a surplus. TDC would be entitled to keep its share of that surplus. Tim Willis confirmed that TDC was not planning to share its element of any surplus with town or parish councils; however it was up to Members to decide how the surplus would be spent. Matt Sanham, Financial Services Manager said that the expected surplus share to Council for 2016/17 was £163,000.

Medium Term Financial Plan

One Member asked whether there had been any indication on how the change to the collection business rates would work and whether the Government had made any contingency measures for disadvantaged areas like Thanet District where business growth was small. In response Tim Willis said that the situation was still not clear. However current information at hand was that Local Government would retain all of the business rates collected.

Another Member said that the challenge was that some of the more affluent councils could reduce the business rates levels in their areas and this may lead to businesses moving away from Thanet to those areas with reduced rates.

Budget Savings

The meeting was advised that officers would be providing information on the events budgets due to town and parish councils outside of the meeting. The Chairman said that it was important that town and parish councils be made aware early on of the levels of floral display and events grants they would be receiving in order for them to decide on what match funding levels would be required. Tim Willis indicated that officers would be advising Members as soon as was possible.

Rental Increases

Addressing the question on how much was being collected as result of the Pay to Stay Policy, Nikki Walker, Interim Head of Financial Services said that the initial government guidance indicated that this would be a discretionary rent policy for tenants whose household earnings were more than £60,000 per year. Additional  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41

Cabinet produced the budget proposals that had to be developed within the context of a restrictive local government finance environment. In the process Member for Financial Services said that the budget framework would ensure that the Council’s resources were managed efficiently and effectively. The Council would continue to face significant cuts in Government funding over the next few years.

Substantial savings have been made in recent years. Cabinet noted that it was becoming increasingly difficult to identify further savings without impacting on frontline services. Despite these challenges, Cabinet proposed a budget that would secure a number of savings. The income generating proposals in the report would enable Council to put forward a balanced budget for 2016/17 which would have minimum impact on service delivery.

In the proposals, budgetary growth had been kept to a minimum. However, Cabinet acknowledged the attendant cost pressures due to inflationary increases and unavoidable commitments that were identified in the report.

Savings that were required to address the budgetary pressures had been identified. These were in addition to the fees and charges increases that were agreed by Council on 3 December 2015. They were also in addition to other income from an assumed increase in council tax and contribution from the Collection Fund.

A review of the Reserves had been done and a detailed risk assessment of reserves was shared at the meeting. Cabinet noted that Council would not be drawing down from General Reserves to balance the budget for 2016/17. An increase in Council Tax of 1.97% was being proposed and this would enable Council establish a balanced budget.

Other key issues to note were a significant projected loss of income of £4.56 million over the next four years for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). This was due to the Government announcement to reduce rental income by 1% a year. The main expenditure items in the HRA relate to the management and maintenance of the housing stock. The proposed HRA balance was considered to be sufficient to support the 30 year Business Plan.

Over the last five years the Council had seen a significant reduction in capital receipts from the sale of assets. It was therefore necessary to review the capital programme to ensure sufficient funding was available for existing schemes that had already commenced and that any new projects identified would be of the highest corporate priority. The proposed programme is based on current projections of available funds.

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure Rule 24.1:

Councillor Campbell;

Councillor I. Gregory;

Councillor Shonk.

Councillor Townend proposed, Councillor Wells seconded and Cabinet agreed the following:

1.  To approve and recommend to Full Council the draft Medium Term Financial Plan at Annex 1 (of the Cabinet report);

2.  To approve and recommend to Full Council the draft General Fund Revenue budget estimates for 2016-17 to 2019-20 and the resulting budget requirement for 2016-17;

3.  To approve and recommend to Full Council that the level of general reserves be held at £2.011m, and specific earmarked reserves  ...  view the full minutes text for item 323