12 2021/22 Final Budget and Medium- Term Financial Strategy to 2025/26 PDF 325 KB
Additional documents:
Decision:
RESOLVED:
That Cabinet makes the following recommendations to Council on 9 February 2020.
Cabinet recommends that Council:
Cabinet recommends that the Audit & Governance Committee approves the following:
Reason for Decision:
Council will meet on 9 February 2021 to agree a budget and to set the Council Tax Precept for 2021/22. Cabinet is ... view the full decision text for item 12
Minutes:
The report was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Resources whom explained that the production of the 2021/22 budget had been developed through an integrated approach across Strategy, Transformation and Finance, based around a set of Core Planning Assumptions which set out likely changes to the environment in which we delivered our priorities. The budget being presented reflected the successes of the major transformation programmes andefficiencies driven by the Council, which commenced over three years ago. The draft budget process began well before December 2020 with the draft budget presenting a gap of £18.3m. This gap had now closed with a balanced budget finalised and no use of reserves. The Cabinet Member detailed all the actions that had been taken to close this gap. Details were given of the ambitious capital expenditure programme of £1.9b over the period till 2026. The Cabinet Member detailed the key elements of the budget including how the budget had been prepared, the revenue budget, council tax precept, adult social precept, business rates, government grant funding, expenditure and budget reserves. The Cabinet Member stated that he was satisfied the budget was balanced, fair and deliverable.
The Deputy Cabinet Member for Resources updated the Cabinet on capital expenditure and financing elements of the budget. The total capital budget for the next five years totalled £1b for capital projects and £900m for pipeline projects, which are the schemes at an early stage of development. A detailed breakdown was given of the capital budget and the services that would be impacted. Details were also provided on the financing elements of the budget.
Each of the Cabinet Members then proceeded to highlight the positive areas of the budget which supported their specific services. The Cabinet Member for Resources, Executive Director for Resources and finance team were congratulated for the presentation of the budget. The Cabinet highlighted that the budget would allow the council to deliver on the community vision for Surrey.
The Cabinet for Resources paid a special thanks to Anna D’Alessandro, Rachel Wigley, Mark Hak-Sanders and Nikki O’Connor who had put in tremendous effort to producing the budget. Leigh Whitehouse, the Executive Director for Resources was thanked for his oversight and direction. The 14 recommendations in the report were unanimously agreed by Cabinet.
RESOLVED:
That Cabinet makes the following recommendations to Council on 9 February 2020.
Cabinet recommends that Council: