Meeting documents
Cabinet
Wednesday, 4th February, 2004
Executive Budget Proposal
Updated Figures reflecting
a) Final Grant Settlement (Published on 29th Jan 2004, post report despatch),
b) Final proposed Education capital allocation, and
c) Proposed allocation of £250,000 revenue
Changes to the original report are highlighted in bold text
Changes to Section 1, page 5
New Table 1, attached update to appendices 1 and 2 also arising from this
|
Description |
£'000 |
Comments |
|
Base Budget Cash Limit for 2004/05 |
158,822 |
Column 5 of Appendix 2 |
|
Assumed savings within draft financial plan and service plans |
-1,821 |
Column 7 of Appendix 2 |
|
Additional organisational savings to be progressed by Directors' Group |
-150 |
Within appendix 1, item Corp 51 and column 6 of appendix 2 |
|
Proposed 2004/05 Draft Financial Plan Items - revenue effect of the 2004/05 Draft Financial Plan compared to 2003/04 (excl pay and prices) |
2,152 |
See Column 6 of Appendix 2. Further details are provided in Appendix 1 |
|
Financial Plan provision for pay & prices increase |
1,243 |
Also in column 6 of Appendix 2 and appendix 1 by service (estimated) |
|
Unallocated sum |
250 |
Yet to be determined |
|
Recommended Revenue Budget 2004/05 |
160,496 |
Column 9 of Appendix 2. |
Changes to Section 2, attached update to appendix 3 also, page 7
Table 3
|
Heading |
Total £000 |
Government Supported £000 |
Council Supported £000 |
|
Education |
11,864 |
8,064 |
3,800 |
|
Social Services |
1,123 |
123 |
1,000 |
|
Transport |
6,716 |
5,266 |
1,450 |
|
Planned Maintenance, Disabled Access and Commercial Estate |
2,300 |
- |
2,300 |
|
Resources |
200 |
- |
200 |
|
Culture & Leisure |
240 |
- |
240 |
|
Major Projects |
3,545 |
- |
3,545 |
|
Corporate Schemes |
3,516 |
250 |
3,266 |
|
Housing |
4,000 |
1,275 |
2,725 |
|
Total |
33,504 |
14,978 |
18,526 |
Key points to note are:
· A historically high level of capital spending on schools, reflecting specific government allocations (notably to the Radstock schools reorganisation and the Bath Special School project) together with Council funding (£900,000 plus bridging finance for Bath Special schools project and the Planned Maintenance programme);
· Progress on key projects including Western Riverside, Disability access works and Elderly Persons' Homes reprovision
· Allocation of the £5M unsupported borrowing to implement the Corporate Plan financial strategy. This includes allocations in respect of improvement priorities to schools (£900,000 see above), housing (£300,000), highways (£1.2m) and customer access (£100,000) totalling £2.5m. There is an additional £700,000 to progress the Council's major projects, £1m to pump prime projects that lead to headroom creation and productivity improvements, £500,000 for projects that help sustain the Council's key income streams and with a further £300,000 held in contingency at this stage. (N.B. a further £735,000 of unsupported borrowing has been assumed as "bridging finance" pending capital receipts).
Changes to Section 4, page 9
Education Section
The year-on-year increase in Education Formula Spending Share or FSS is £4.6m (see Appendix 6 for the changes in the grant settlement from 2003/04 to 2004/05).
We also recognise that there is need to improve the condition of school buildings.
So to meet this need the Executive does not propose to fully revenue passport the Education FSS. We do however propose to provide additional investment in school buildings by £900,000 in 2004/05.
Service Improvement Priorities Section
The Corporate Plan identifies our key improvement priorities. Its financial strategy also makes clear that financial headroom will be allocated towards the improvement priorities.
Headroom has to be earned before it can be spent. We recognise that in 2004/05 little revenue headroom can be achieved but more is available through capital. So, for 2004/05 we have provided an unallocated sum of £250,000 revenue (see section 6) and have provided an allocation of £2.5m capital towards improvement priorities (see section 2).
We are bringing forward proposals for allocation of the £250,000 unallocated sum at the Council's Executive meeting, now attached as Appendix 7. In doing so we have given attention to our improvement priorities and other key budget considerations.
Final paragraph section 4
In addition we are earmarking a further £150,000 as a risk reserve, to be held until we are assured that, through the Corporate Plan process, the Council is managing its overall risks effectively. Once that assurance is gained, the reserve can be released to create additional financial headroom for future allocation to improvement priorities and other key spending requirements. This earmarking is in addition to the increased contribution to balances referred to in section 3 and appendix 4.
Changes to Section 5 - Council Tax, page 10
Updated Table 4
|
Description |
Amount |
Comments |
|
Recommended Net Revenue Budget £k |
160,496 |
From table 1 |
|
Less Grant and estimate of Collection Fund surplus = £k |
100,569 |
The final figure has been used from the January announcement. |
|
Equals to be funded by Council Tax £k |
59,927 |
|
|
Tax base (Band D properties equivalent) |
63,444.70 |
Approved by Council in January 2004 |
|
Equals Recommended Council Tax at Band D for 2004/05 £ |
£944.55 |
Recommended Council Tax Band D. |
|
Current Council Tax Band D, adjusted for the removal of the Fire precept from the 2003/04 Bath and North East Somerset budget £ |
£901.72 |
2003/04 Year (£940.48 minus £38.76) |
|
Recommended Increase |
4.75% |
|
Changes to Appendices
Attached:
· Updated Appendix 1, (effects of grant changes upon risk reserve)
· Updated Appendix 2, (effects of grant changes and changes to risk reserve)
· Updated Appendix 3, (capital allocation changes)
· Updated Appendix 6, (reflecting final grant settlement)
· New Appendix 7 (proposed Executive allocation of £250,000 to improvement priorities)
Appendix 7
Proposal of the Executive for the allocation of the £250,000 Unallocated Revenue Sum
The Executive proposes that this sum should be allocated to support the Improvement Priorities within our proposed corporate plan.
We therefore propose that the revenue sum is allocated as shown in the following table. For each allocation we intend that the named Executive Member(s) make the final decision on the specific items to be funded as part of the finalisation of Service Plans. To assist that process, we have included within the table an indication to that Executive Member of the items that we would wish to be specifically considered in the final allocation.
|
Improvement Priority |
Amount allocated £000 |
Executive Lead member |
|
Improving the urban public realm |
80 |
Cllr Rosemary Todd and Cllr Colin Darracott |
|
Measures to be specifically considered include city centre governance and street scene improvements, graffiti removal and a town ranger scheme in Norton Radstock |
||
|
Reducing the fear of crime |
100 |
Cllr Vic Pritchard and Cllr Paul Crossley |
|
Measures to be specifically considered include extension of community and parish wardens, continuation of the taxi marshal scheme, further youth outreach and drugs education, and active collaboration with the police on crime "hotspots" |
||
|
Promoting the independence of older people and Improving the quality of public transport |
40 |
Cllr Francine Haeberling and Cllr Sir Elgar Jenkins |
|
Measures to focus on transport improvements for older people, such as dial-a-ride and concessionary fare schemes |
||
|
Improving customer satisfaction |
30 |
Cllr Paul Crossley |
|
To assist with the planned reorganisation of reception and "front-facing" services within the Council, aimed at improving our service to customers |
||
|
TOTAL |
250 |
|
While we have not made a specific allocation, we would wish the Executive Member for Education to consider opportunities within his proposed level of funding to continue the APEX scheme for educational excellence.
Capital
Notwithstanding the process we have outlined in the budget report for capital allocation, there are some schemes which we feel will merit particular attention in this process and for which we will be inviting detailed proposals from the relevant Services for consideration against remaining unallocated resources.
These include:
· the renewal and replacement of play equipment throughout the whole of the Council area, considering within this how we can support facilities that are provided by Parish Councils,
· exploration of the potential of "Alleygate" schemes
· specific schemes designed to improve the urban public realm, including (but not restricted to) parking provision at the Westfield shops in Norton Radstock and streetscapes in Oldfield Park and Widcombe