Agenda item

A report with a proposed final revenue budget for 2021/22, together with recommendations regarding the capital programme and a Council Tax precept were considered. The recommendations were presented in the context of the Council’s organisational strategy, finance improvement plan and departmental service plans; and the Government’s recent policy announcements concerning Local Government finance (including the ‘provisional settlement’).

 

The report included detailed commentary about the budget setting process, with reference to a self-assessment against best practice guidance and key underlying budget principles. An analysis of the main changes to the draft budget submitted to the 16^th December 2021 meeting (when a £189,000 revenue deficit was being forecast) was provided, together with the significant variations from the 2020/21 net revenue budget. The report also referred to:

 

·           government funding for TDC associated with the Covid-19 pandemic

·           projected income generated by a £5 Council Tax increase

·           likely Council Tax and business rates collection fund deficits

·           the intention to retain the current Council Tax Support Scheme

·           an assumed reduction in New Homes Bonus

·           inflationary provisions of 0.5% for staff salaries and 2% for contract payments

·           a 2% uplift in General Fund fees & charges

·           intended annual contributions to reserves and contingencies

·           a medium term financial outlook to 2023/24

·           assumed Government reforms to Local Authority finance from April 2022

·           the development of the capital programme to 2023/24 (including a rebasing exercise, re-profiling HRA projects and the removal of the Investment & Development Fund)

·           the adequacy of reserves and a risk mitigation strategy

 

The report acknowledged the uncertainties associated with Local Government funding over the medium term, with several factors likely to impact upon the Council’s funding position beyond 2021/22.

 

Upon introducing the report, the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) referred to the £100,000 transfer from the Local Plan to the salaries budget to strengthen staffing resources under the remit of the Chief Planning Officer.

 

In response to Members’ questions, Officers:

 

·           explained that the additional £105,000 provision in the Strategy & Resources budget had arisen from a review of where certain salary costs should be charged;

 

·           confirmed that the contract savings reflected in the Community Services budget were challenging but realistic – projected savings for all policy committees would be tracked next year to enable Members to monitor whether they were being achieved

 

·           advised that the presentation of the Strategy & Resources budget would be reviewed to reflect the fact that a significant proportion of the costs were corporate items, dependent upon external economic factors beyond the Council’s control;

 

·           surmised that relevant committees (especially Chairs and Vice-Chairs) and applicable Executive Leadership Team (ELT) leads were accountable for achieving budget targets

 

While the CFO did not favour the use of RAG ratings for budget monitoring purposes, the Finance Team would consider how best to present information to committees about the position of their budgets throughout 2021/22. In any event, ELT was aware of its duty to provide clear and accurate financial reports to enable committees to make informed decisions.

 

Some Members reiterated concerns that costs associated with the two Local Plan options (presented by the Planning Inspector) had not been factored into the budget and, therefore, felt unable to support it.  

 

COUNCIL DECISIONS

(subject to ratification by Council)

 

            R E C O M M E N D E D – that

 

A.     the net revenue budget requirement be set at £11.3million(net cost of services after service specific government grants) for 2021/22 (Appendix A to the report), subject to confirmation of the final Local Government Financial Settlement;

 

B.     the final budget envelopes for departments for 2021/22 at Appendix B to the report be approved;

 

C.     the total £39.6 million proposed three-year Capital Programme (comprising £11.3m General Fund and £28.3m Housing Revenue Account (HRA)) of which £25.1 million Capital Budget is for 2021/22 at Appendix C to the report be approved;

 

D.     the total Council Tax Requirement be set at £8.7 million for 2021/22, based on a Council Tax increase of £5 to cover core Council services (Appendix D to the report);

 

E.     it be noted that, for the purpose of section 52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, the Council formally determines that the increase in Council tax is not such as to trigger a referendum (i.e. not greater than £5);

 

F.      the Tandridge District Council precept for Band D Council Tax be set at £225.98, which represents a £5 uplift, this being a rise of £0.10 a week from the 2020/21 precept of £220.98 – a full list of bands is as follows:

 

     Band A            £150.65

     Band B            £175.76

     Band C            £200.87

     Band D            £225.98

     Band E            £276.20

     Band F            £326.42

     Band G            £376.63

     Band H            £451.96

 

G.     the Parish Councils’ precept requirements for 2021/22 at Appendix E to the report be noted;

 

H.     the current Local Council Tax Support Scheme (unchanged) be adopted for financial year 2021/22; and

 

I.       the impact of the financial strategy to build the General Fund Reserves via a £0.5m contribution per annum, application of a general contingency of c£0.1m per annum (£117k for 2021/22) and creation of a Partnership & Transformation Reserve to support exploring partnership opportunities (£0.2m 2021/22) be noted (this will bring the General Fund balance to £3.1m as at 31 March 2022 (Appendix F to the report).

 

In accordance with Standing Order 25(3), Members requested that their votes in connection with the recommendations A and B and D to I above be recorded (recommendation C was agreed unanimously):

 

Recommendations A and B

 

For: Councillors Cooper, Duck, Elias, Milton and Pursehouse

Against: none

Abstentions: Councillors Botten, Bourne, Caulcott, Davies, Langton, Lee and Sayer

 

 

Recommendation D

 

For: Councillors Botten, Bourne, Caulcott, Cooper, Duck, Elias, Lee, Milton and Pursehouse

Against: none

Abstentions: Councillors, Davies, Langton and Sayer

 

Recommendations E to I

For:     Councillors Botten, Bourne, Caulcott, Cooper, Davies, Duck, Elias, Langton, Lee, Milton, Pursehouse and Sayer

Against: none

Abstentions: none