Decision details

To make recommendations to the County Council on the revenue and capital budgets for 2014/15 to 2018/19 and the level of council precept for 2014/15

·          That recommendations be made to the Full County Council on 11 February 2014 as follows:

       On the revenue and capital budget:

1.       Note the Chief Finance Officer’s statutory report on the robustness and sustainability of the budget and the adequacy of the proposed financial reserves (Annex 1 of the report submitted).

2.       Set the County Council precept for band D council tax at £1,195.83, which represents a 1.99% up-lift.

3.       Agree to maintain the council tax rate set above and delegate powers to the Leader and the Chief Finance Officer to finalise detailed budget proposals following receipt of the Final Local Government Financial Settlement.

4.       Approve the County Council budget for 2014/15 as £1,644.2m.

5.       Agree the capital programme proposals specifically to:

·     fund essential schemes over the five year period (schools and non-schools) to the value of £760m including ring-fenced grants; and

·     make adequate provision in the revenue budget to fund the revenue costs of the capital programme.

6.       Require the Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer to establish a mechanism to regularly track and monitor progress on the further development and implementation of robust plans for achieving the efficiencies across the whole MTFP period.

7.       Require Strategic Directors and Senior Officers to maintain robust in year (i.e. 2014/15) budget monitoring procedures that enable Cabinet to monitor the achievement of efficiencies and service reductions through the monthly budget monitoring Cabinet reports, the quarterly Cabinet Member accountability meetings and the monthly scrutiny at the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

8.       Require a robust business case to be prepared for all revenue invest to save proposals and capital schemes before committing expenditure.

On treasury management and borrowing:

9.       Approve the Treasury Management Strategy for 2014/15 and approve that their provisions have immediate effect. This strategy includes:

·     the investment strategy for short term cash balances;

·     the treasury management policy (Appendix B1);

·     the prudential indicators (Appendix B2)

·     the schedule of delegation (Appendix B4);

·     the minimum revenue provision policy (Appendix B7).

·          That the medium term financial plan (MTFP) for the financial years 2014?19, be approved including:

·     approval of the Total Schools Budget of £563.1m;

·     reduction of the revenue budget risk contingency for 2014/15 to £5m to mitigate against the risk of non-delivery of service reductions & efficiencies;

·     applying £20.1m from the Budget Equalisation Reserve (including £13.0m contributed by the unused risk contingency from 2013/14) and £5.8m from other reserves to support the 2014/15 budget;

·     provision of £0.75m to support the apprenticeship programme;

·     setting aside £1.25m in a reserve for Business Rates Appeals as mitigation against potential business rates valuation appeals.

·          That it be noted that the Cabinet will receive the final detailed MTFP (2014-19) on 25 March 2014 for approval following scrutiny by Select Committees.

Reason for Decisions

Full County Council will meet on 11 February 2014 to agree the summary budget and set the council tax precept for 2014/15. The Cabinet advises the Full County Council how best to meet the challenges the Council faces. The reasons underpinning the recommendations agreed by Cabinet include:

·        to ensure the Council continues to maintain its financial resilience and protect its long term financial position;

·        to enable the Council to meet the expectations of Surrey’s residents as confirmed in their responses to the in depth consultation exercise undertaken in 2012; and

·        to provide adequate finances for key services such as school places, highways, adults social care and protecting vulnerable people.