Decision details

To make recommendations to the County Council on the revenue and capital budgets for 2018/19 to 2020/21 and the level of council precept for 2018/19 and to approve the updated Corporate Strategy. 

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet makes the following recommendations to the Full County Council on 6 February 2018:

Cabinet recommendations to Full County Council to note the following important features of the revenue and capital budget

1.           The Director of Finance’s statutory conclusions that the council’s budget is balanced for 2018/19 and is developing a major transformation programme to be able to set a balanced budget for 2019/20 and become sustainable over the medium to long term (Annex 1 of the submitted report).

Proposed budget: Cabinet recommendations to Full County Council for the revenue and capital budgets

2.           Increase the level of the general council tax by 2.99% (paragraphs 101 and 102 of the submitted report).

3.           Increase council tax by a further 3% for the adult social care precept, which will provide a further £20m to support the growth in demand for services (paragraph 102 of the submitted report).

4.           Set the County Council precept for band D council tax at £1,411.29 which represents a 5.99% up-lift. This is a rise of £1.53 a week from 2017/18’s precept of £1,331.55.

5.           Approve the County Council’s £1,705m gross revenue expenditure budget for 2018/19 (Table 9 of the submitted report).

6.           Approve the application of up to £15m capital receipts to fund the revenue costs associated with transformation projects (paragraphs 34 to 37 and Appendix 3 of the submitted report)

7.           Approve use of up to £24m of earmarked reserves to support the revenue budget (paragraph 109 of the submitted report).

8.           Approve £316m three year capital programme, with £139m capital investment in 2018/19 (paragraph 124 and Appendix 7 of the submitted report).

9.           Agree to support only capital schemes that do not require borrowing, unless the scheme has a compelling business case developed that demonstrates best value and a sustainable basis for funding borrowing costs (paragraph 135 of the submitted report).

10.        Note that the detailed programme of schemes will be agreed ahead of implementation of the detailed budget (if necessary).

11.        Require a robust business case to be prepared (and taken to the Investment Panel for review) before committing expenditure for the use of:

·      all revenue ‘invest to save’ proposals, and

·      capital schemes (paragraph 120 of the submitted report).

12.        To help ensure the council achieves its savings programme, require the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance to:

·      continue to ensure delivery of existing MTFP efficiencies and service reductions for the remaining years of the MTFP 2018?21; and

·      continue to ensure services monitor their demand and cost pressures and develop plans to mitigate the impact of those pressures (paragraph 95 of the submitted report).

13.        Require the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance to lead the development of a transformation programme to move the council to a sustainable position in 2019/20. 

Corporate and key financial strategies: Cabinet recommendations to Full County Council on the revenue and capital budgets

14.        Approve the refreshed Corporate Strategy for 2018/19 that Cabinet has endorsed (paragraphs 18 to 24 and Appendix 1 of the submitted report).

15.        Approve the refreshed Financial Strategy for 2018/19 (paragraphs 30 to 32 and Appendix 2 of the submitted report).

16.        Approve the Capital Strategy for 2018-22 (paragraphs 117 and 118 of the submitted report)

17.        Approve the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy for 2018/19 (paragraphs 34 to 37 of the submitted report).

Treasury management and borrowing: Cabinet recommendations to Full County Council

18.        Approve, with immediate effect, the Treasury Management Strategy for 2018/19 (Annex 2 of the submitted report), which includes:

·      the investment strategy for short term cash balances;

·      the borrowing strategy for funding the capital programme;

·      the treasury management policy (Appendix 10 of the submitted report);

·      the prudential indicators (Appendix 11 of the submitted report);

·      the treasury management scheme of delegation (Appendix 12 of the submitted report);

·      the minimum revenue provision policy (Appendix 13 of the submitted report).

That the following decisions have been approved by Cabinet:

19.        That services will develop final detailed budgets and savings within budget for review by the council’s Scrutiny function, ahead of approval by Cabinet on 27 March 2018 when the final MTFP 2018?21 will be presented.

20.        That the draft MTFP for the financial years 2018?21 be approved, which includes:

·      to approve the Total Schools Budget of £505.8m (paragraphs 110 to 115 of the submitted report);

·      to approve overall cash limits for individual services for the 2018/19 budget (Table 9 of the submitted report).

21.        That Cabinet approved allocation of a part of the additional funding from the additional 1% increase in council tax, and a change to the funding for the Members Allocations to provide the following to support Members’ work in their local communities (paragraphs 104 and 105 of the submitted report):

·        a new Member Local Highways Fund;

·        a Revenue Highways Fund shared among Local Committees; and

·        revised Members Community Allocation

Reasons for Decisions

Full County Council will meet on 6 February 2018 to agree a budget and set the council tax precept for 2018/19. Cabinet will recommend a budget to Full County Council to consider at its meeting on 6 February 2018.