Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 This report presents the Cabinet's draft financial plan, and revenue and capital budgets for the 2009/10 financial year together with a proposal for a Council Tax level for 2009/10.

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.2 That the Council include the Local Precepts of Town Councils, Parish Councils and the Charter Trustees of the City of Bath, and those of the Fire and Police Authorities in its Council Tax setting.

2.3 That the Council acknowledges the Section 151 officer's report on the robustness of the proposed budget and the adequacy of the Council's reserves (Appendix 2, Annex 5) and approves the conditions upon which the recommendations are made as set out throughout Appendix 2.

2.4 That in relation to the capital budget the Council:

2.5 That the Council note the O&S review of Medium Term Service and Resource Plans and 2009/10 Service Action Plans and instructs the relevant officers to finalise and publish their Medium Term Service and Resource Plans and Service Action Plans by end of March 2009, in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member and in light of feedback from the O&S review, and in line with the cash limits set out in Annex 1 of Appendix 2, unless amended under 2.6 below.

2.6 That the Council authorise the Divisional Director - Finance, in consultation with the Cabinet Member (Resources) to amend the cash limits set out in Annex 1 of Appendix 2 to take account of the final re-allocation of budgets in respect of the actual pay award, any inflation adjustments or other minor technical items when these are known.

2.7 That in light of the likely medium term funding gaps arising from pressures on public sector spending generally, the Council instruct the Strategic Directors Group to work on ideas for reducing the overall cost base of the Council's services in order to protect essential service delivery into 2010/11 and beyond, with initial feedback in July 2009, recommending actions to pursue in this and future years.

2.8 Authorise the Council's s151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member (Resources), to drawn down on the exceptional risk reserve, if required, consistent with the purposes set out in Section 3 of Appendix 2 to this report.

2.9 Authorise the Council's s151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member (Resources), to decide whether the provision for increased pension contributions in 2009/10 should be held as an earmarked reserve as currently contemplated or actually paid over as increased contributions to the Avon Pension Fund.

2.10 Authorise the Divisional Director - Finance, in consultation with the Cabinet Member (Resources), to make any necessary presentational improvements to the draft Budget Proposal prior to submission to Council.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3 COMMUNITY STRATEGY OUTCOMES

3.1 The framework for service and resource planning aims to ensure that scarce resources are aligned to corporate priorities as set out in the Council's updated Corporate Plan, which in turn reflect the Bath & NE Somerset Community Strategy.

4 CORPORATE IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES

4.1 The framework for Service and Resource planning aims to ensure scarce resources are aligned to corporate priorities and improving the delivery of services and cross-Council priorities, linking performance with resources and value for money.

5 CPA KEY LINES OF ENQUIRY

5.1 The process contributes towards the "Prioritisation of ambitions" by ensuring that all objectives and targets are an appropriate reflection of priorities as set out in the corporate plan.

6 THE REPORT

6.1 In this document the Cabinet sets out the following:-

6.2 The budget proposals include:

6.3 These budget proposals are set within a context of:

6.4 It is important to be clear on the process to be followed in setting the 2009/10 Budget. The Monitoring Officer has given the following guidance:

6.5 The Cabinet has the responsibility to prepare and propose a draft Budget to Council for its approval.

6.6 The Cabinet can, in its absolute discretion, receive from any political group that so wishes, an alternative budget proposal to that published in the Cabinet agenda papers .It can only consider such proposals if it is satisfied that they have been discussed with the Council's statutory officers and relevant Directors and that an impact statement from Officers about such proposals is available.

6.7 All proposals that the Cabinet meeting is prepared to consider will therefore be cleared with the Section 151 Officer, the Monitoring Officer, and relevant Strategic / Divisional Directors beforehand.

6.8 The Cabinet will formulate a budget proposal and Council Tax recommendation to the Council meeting on 17th February 2009 Such budget proposal may either take the form of a composite proposal or may include agreed core proposals and options for allocating parts of the budget.

6.9 The Council has available to it at the budget setting meeting two options. It can object to specific parts of the proposals and if it does so must require the Leader on behalf of Cabinet to reconsider its proposals. The Council is required to give the Cabinet the reason(s) why it considers those proposal(s) should be changed and it is then for the Cabinet to consider those proposed changes and the reasons put forward. Alternatively it is, of course, open to the Council to accept the budget in its proposed form at the meeting, in which case no further action is necessary.

6.10 Council may then determine the budget on the basis of the Cabinet's recommendations as set out in 6.8 above plus any insignificant changes adopted as amendments at the Council meeting. The constitution provides that the meeting itself (on advice from the Chief Executive) will decide whether any amendment to the budget proposals is of such significance as to amount to an "objection" to the budget so as to require reconsideration by the Cabinet.

6.11 may then determine the budget on the basis of the Cabinet's recommendations as set out in 6.8 above plus any insignificant changes adopted as amendments from any proposals notified at the Cabinet meeting.

6.12 However if a significant proposal is accepted on a vote at Council, from those notified at the Cabinet meeting, this stands as a formal objection within the terms of the law and will be referred to the Leader for her to secure consideration by the Cabinet and report back to the Council meeting on 26th February 2009.

6.13 When the Cabinet has considered the objections, it is required to put its proposals (which may or may not be revised) back to the Council Meeting. If the Cabinet does not agree with Council's views on a proposed change, it is required to state why and the Council can then take those reasons into account, along with its original thoughts as to why the change was desirable. At the meeting, it is open to Council to take such decision as it sees fit on any variation from the budget as originally proposed that has been the subject of consideration under the process outlined in paragraphs 6.9 to 6.12

6.14 In setting the budget the Council is required to approve a full budget resolution including the police, fire and parish precepts and the proposed Council revenue and capital budgets for 2009/10. That budget will include within it the overall proposed Council cash limits for 2009/10 including the provision for inflation, the proposed use of balances in the 2009/10 budget (if any) and the resulting budget requirement and Council Tax for Bath and North East Somerset including any recommendations for special expenses. At the same meeting the Council will also approve the borrowing limits for 2009/10 and prudential indicators.

6.15 Legally, the Council must set a balanced budget for the forthcoming year and determine the level of Council Tax. If a budget is not set by the date of the reserve budget-setting meeting (26th February), this will lead to a delay in billing and a loss in council tax cash flow. It is highly likely that this will also translate into a higher level of uncollectable debt and debt collection costs and in addition this will significantly impact on council tax performance indicators. A delay until 26th February will also compromise the Council's ability to meet current billing deadlines, and there is a serious risk billing will be delayed also with negative cash flow impacts.

6.16 The final Council Tax set will encompass all parish and police and fire precepts (that is the money we collect on behalf of the parishes, fire and police and pay to them).

7 RISK MANAGEMENT

7.1 The report author and Lead Cabinet member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.

7.2 In addition Appendix 2 to this report includes (at Annex 5) the Section 151 Officer's assessment of the Robustness of Estimates and Adequacy of Reserves. One of the considerations taken into account is the Directors' Review of Robustness of Estimates and Budget Risks/Sensitivities and the Corporate Risk Register.

8 RATIONALE

8.1 The rationale for the recommendations is contained in the supporting paper to this report.

9 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

9.1 The supporting paper and appendices also contain the other options that can be considered in making any recommendations.

10 CONSULTATION

10.1 Meetings have been or will be held with trades unions and with stakeholders during the development of service and resource plans which have fed into this budget. This has again included a Budget Fair, enabling cross service consideration of the range of proposals by a range of stakeholders.

10.2 The proposals have been issued to representatives of the business community for consultation.

11 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION

11.1 These include Social Inclusion; Customer Focus; Sustainability; Young People; Equality; Corporate; Impact on Staff and Other Legal Considerations such as the requirement to set a budget and Council Tax.

12 ADVICE SOUGHT

12.1 The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor) and Section 151 Officer have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication.