Agenda item

This report presents the Cabinet's revenue and capital budgets for the 2016/17 financial year together with a proposal for a Council Tax level for 2016/17.

The Council considered a report presenting the Cabinet’s revenue and capital budgets for the 2016/17 financial year together with a proposal for a Council Tax level for 2016/17.

In addition to the report circulated with the agenda, all Councillors also received;

·  Appendix 7: Resolution for setting Council Tax for 2016/17

·  Updated recommendations and changes to budget report figures to reflect the provision in the Final Settlement for local government of Transitional Grant funding for the Council

·  Draft minutes of the Resources Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 8^th February with the Panel’s comments on the budget proposals.

On a motion from Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero, it was RESOLVED that the Council suspends Council rule 42, Content and Length of Speeches, for the duration of this debate so as to enable variations to be permitted to the length of speeches by the Cabinet Member for Finance & Efficiency, the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green Group Leaders and Independent & Village Voice Spokesperson and the Chair of the Resources Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel.

On a motion from Councillor Charles Gerrish, seconded by Councillor Tim Warren, it was

RESOLVED that

1.  That the Council approve:

a.  The General Fund net revenue budget for 2016/17 of £115.729m and the associated Council Tax increase of 1.25% plus a further 2% for Adult Social Care, as set out in Appendix 2.

b.  That no Special Expenses be charged other than Town and Parish Council precepts for 2016/17.

c.  The adequacy of reserves at Appendix 2 Table 10 with a risk-assessed level of £10.5m.

d.  The individual service cash limits for 2016/17 summarised at Appendix 2 Table 6 and detailed in Annex 1.

e.  The allocations of the Transitional grant of £936k in 2016/17 as follows:

(i)  Adjustments to Existing Budget Proposals

Ø  £25K - Widening of Gull Strategy trial and additional enforcement work.

Ø  £62K – Increase transition support for Freight Consolidation from 6 to 12 months.

(ii) New Provision

Ø  £50K – Support and advice for B&NES Council financial planning and a submission to government - to inform planned changes to local government finance nationally, including a new system of needs assessment and tariffs, which will be offsetting business rates retention proposals.

 (iii) Service Transition Support

Ø  £799K – Corporately held transition funding to assist in the delivery of savings targets and other pressures as required in year and as a contingency relating to income growth targets in 2016/17.

f.  That the specific arrangements for the governance and release of reserves, including invest to save proposals and transition funding, be delegated to the Council’s Section 151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance & Efficiency and the Chief Executive.

2.  That the Council include in its Council Tax setting, the precepts set and approved by other bodies including 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.

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

4.  That in relation to the capital budget the Council:

a.  approves a capital programme of £58.213m for 2016/17 and notes items for provisional approval in 2016/17 and the programme for 2017/18 to 2020/21 as shown at Appendix 2, Annex 3 including the planned sources of funding

b.  delegates implementation, subject to consultation where appropriate, of the capital programmes set out in Annex 3i to Annex 3iv to the relevant Strategic Director in Consultation with the appropriate Cabinet Member.

c.  approves all other delegations as set out in the budget report.

d.  approves the Minimum Revenue Provision Policy as shown at Appendix 2, Annex 4

e.  approves the Capital Prudential Indicators as set out in Appendix  2 Table 8.

5.  That the Council agree the Council’s proposed pay policy statement, including the provision in respect of minimum pay rates in 2016/17 as set out at Appendix 5 delegating implementation arrangements to the Employment Committee where appropriate.

6.  That the Council notes the issues raised in Appendix 6 and agree that the proposals in the budget properly reflect the Council’s duties under the Equalities Act 2010.

7.  That the Council approves the technical resolutions that are derived from the budget report, and all figures in that report, including the precepts for towns, parishes and other precepting bodies as set out in Appendix 7.

8.  That the Council notes that it administers a welfare support fund to assist vulnerable claimants with exceptional short-term needs, including exceptional difficulty in meeting Council Tax obligations. This currently has an annual budget of £270k;

9.  That the Council resolves to allocate an additional £50,000 from the Government’s Transition Fund to the welfare support scheme as a one-off transition measure to assist with increasing demand that may arise during the transition to universal credit over the coming year.

THE COUNCIL APPROVES THE BUDGET AND COUNCIL TAX FOR 2016/17 AS INDICATED ABOVE AND ACCORDINGLY RESOLVES:

10.That the 2016/17 expenditure is funded as follows:

* Before Tariff Payment

11.a) That it be noted that on the 18th December 2015 the Divisional Director of Business Support (as authorised section 151 officer) agreed 62,734.60 Band D property equivalent as the Council Tax Base for the year 2016/17 in accordance with regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 made under Section 35(5) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

b) The amounts calculated by the Council, in accordance with Regulation 6 of the Regulations, as the amount of its Council Tax Base for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate is given as Annex 1 (1).

[Annex 1 (1) gives Band D Tax base by parish]

12.That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the 2016/17 financial year in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government and Finance Act 1992, as amended:

a.  £322,429,096 (=£320,120,200 (gross expenditure) +£2,308,896 (Parish precepts))being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the 1992 Act.

[This is the gross expenditure incurred in performing functions and charged to the revenue account, contingencies for revenue, any financial reserves to be raised, financial reserves to meet prior year deficit not yet provided for, any amounts transferred from its general fund to its collection fund in accordance with section 97(4) of the Local Government Finance 1988 Act, and any amounts transferred from general fund to collection fund under section 98(5) of 1988 Act.]

b.  £242,272,900 (gross income including use of reserves) being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the 1992 Act.

[This is the income estimated to accrue which will be credited into the revenue account for the year in accordance with proper practices, any amounts transferred in the year from the collection fund to the general fund in accordance with section 97(3) of the 1988 Act, any amounts which will be transferred from the collection fund to the general fund pursuant to a direction under section 98(4) of the 1988 Act and will be credited to the revenue account for the year, and financial reserves used to provide for items in Section 31A(2)]

c.  £80,156,196  being the amount by which the aggregate at 12(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 12(b) above calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the 1992 Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year.

d.  £1,277.70 being the amount at 12(c) above divided by the amount at 11(a) above, calculated in accordance with Section 31B of the 1992 Act, as the basic amount of Council Tax for the year.

[This is the average Council tax including B&NES and parish precepts]

e.  £ 2,308,896 being the aggregate amount of all special items (Parish precepts) referred to in Section 34(1) of the 1992 Act.

[This is the total of parish precepts]

f.  £1,240.90  being the amount at 12(d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 12(e) above by the amount at 11(a) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the 1992 Act, as the basic amount of its council tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item relates.

[This is the B&NES Council tax only excluding parish precepts]

g.  The amounts given by adding to the amount at 12(f) above the amounts of special items or items relating to dwellings in those parts of the Council's area mentioned above divided in each case by the amount at 11(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with section 34(3) of the 1992 Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate are given at Annex 1 (3).

[Annex 1 (3) gives the Band D Council tax for each area including the parish precepts]

h.  The amounts given by multiplying the amounts at 12(g) above by the number which, in the proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in a particular valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 36(1) of the 1992 Act, as the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands are given in Annex 1 (4).

[Annex 1 (4) shows the B&NES and parish Council Tax for all bands.]

Precepting Authorities

13.That it be noted that for the year 2016/17 the Police & Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset has determined the amount in precepts issued to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of the dwellings shown below:-

14.Avon and Somerset Police

Valuation Bands

15.That it be noted that for the year 2016/17 Avon Fire Authority met on 5th February 2016 to determine the amounts in precepts issued to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of the dwellings shown below:-

16.Avon Fire Authority

Valuation Bands

17.That, having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts 14, 16 and 12(h) above, the Council, in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 hereby sets the following amounts as the amounts of Council Tax for the 2016/17 financial year for each of the categories of dwellings shown, as listed in Annex 1 (5).

18.On average (for a Band D, 2 adult household) the Council Tax for 2016/17 will be as follows:

[Overall annual increase in average Band D Council Tax is £44.67]

* The Adult Social Care charge represents a 2% increase in the Bath & North East Somerset Council Tax

19.The Council’s basic amount of Council Tax for 2016/17 is not determined to be excessive in accordance with principles approved under section 52ZB Local Government Finance Act 1992.

[Notes;

1.  Resolutions 8 and 9 were proposed by Councillor Chris Watt, and accepted into the substantive motion by Councillors Charles Gerrish and Tim Warren.

2.  The successful motion was carried with 41 Councillors voting in favour and 19 voting against;

Councillors voting in favour – Patrick Anketell-Jones, Colin Barrett, Jasper Becker, Sarah Bevan, Tony Clarke, Matt Cochrane, Fiona Darey, Matthew Davies, Sally Davis, Doug Deacon, Emma Dixon, Michael Evans, Charles Gerrish, Bob Goodman, Francine Haeberling, Alan Hale, Donal Hassett, Deirdre Horstmann, Steve Jeffries, Les Kew, Marie Longstaff, Barry Macrae, Paul May, Paul Myers, Michael Norton, Lisa O’Brien, Bryan Organ, Chris Pearce, June Player, Vic Pritchard, Liz Richardson, Mark Shelford, Brian Simmons, Peter Turner, Martin Veal, David Veale, Karen Walker, Geoff Ward, Tim Warren, Karen Warrington, Chris Watt

Councillors voting against – Cherry Beath, Lisa Brett, John Bull, Neil Butters, Jonathan Carr, Paul Crossley, Chris Dando, Andy Furse, Ian Gilchrist, Liz Hardman, Steve Hedges, Eleanor Jackson, Shaun McGall, Robin Moss, Lin Patterson, Joe Rayment, Nigel Roberts, Caroline Roberts, Dine Romero.