Agenda item

Decision:

(1)   That the transfers to/from reserves as set out in Section 8 and Appendix 2 to the report submitted to the Executive be approved.

(2)   That the growth and savings items included in the General Fund Summary at Appendix 2 and set out in detail in Appendix 3, be approved.

(3)   That the financial risk register set out in Appendix 4 be approved and that it be noted that the level of reserves are currently sufficient to meet the Council’s risks.

(4)   That the findings of the consultation response set out in Appendix 5 be noted.

Executive recommended to Council:

(1)    That no changes be made to the Fees and Charges for General Fund services for 2021-22.

(2)    That the budget, as set out in the General Fund Summary in Appendix 2 be approved, and specifically that the Council Tax requirement for 2021-22 be set at £10,392,720.

(3)    That the Band D Council Tax for 2021-22 be set at £181.82, an increase of £5 (3.00%).

Reason(s):

To enable the Council to set the Council Tax requirement and council tax for the 2021-22 financial year.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

None.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the lead or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

The Executive considered a report which outlined the proposed budget for 2021-22, which included a Council Tax requirement of £10,392,720 and a Council Tax increase of £5 per year (2.83%) that resulted in a Band D charge of £181.82. As set out in the report, the Council was required to achieve a balanced budget for 2021-22.

The General Fund Summary showed a balanced budget for 2021-22 but forecast a budget gap of £1.6 million in 2022-23 rising to £5.9 million by 2025-26.

The Council received the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) for 2021-22 on 17 December 2020.  The figures included in the budget presented reflected the information contained in the settlement.

The Settlement Funding Assessment (SFA) consisted of the local share of business rates, and revenue support grant and was set out in the provisional LGFS.  The settlement was in line with the Council’s expectation which enabled it to retain £2.929 million of business rates in 2021-22, the same amount as retained in 2020-21.  Core Spending Power had also stayed the same as 2020-21 at £14.090m; however, within the core spending power calculation, the Government had assumed that Council Tax would be raised by the maximum amount (£5 or 3% whichever was the higher). 

Overall, the LGFS had been positive for the Council as it included additional funding of:

·       £153,000 grant to compensate the Council for the Business Rates Multiplier not increasing in line with inflation

·       £237,000 lower tier services grant (this was a one-off new grant to support services)

·       £623,000 additional COVID 19 funding to help fund the impact of COVID 19 into the new year

·       £100,000 Section 31 grant for local council tax support

·       £192,000 New Homes Bonus grant for 2021-22 only

·       The ability to raise council tax by a maximum of £5 (2.83%) rather than maximum of 2.0%, this additional increase would generate a further £90,000 in council tax income

The Joint Executive Advisory Board (JEAB) had considered the outline budget at its meeting held on 11 November 2020 and the Executive had approved the outline budget on 24 November 2020.

The Chief Finance Officer’s statutory report, which was appended to the main report, provided information about the strategic context within which the budget had been prepared, the medium-term financial plan, the robustness of the estimates, adequacy of reserves and budget risks. 

The financial monitoring report for the first eight months of 2020-21 had been reported to the Corporate Governance and Standards Committee on 14 January 2021.  The projected net expenditure on the General Fund for the current financial year was estimated to be £8.1million more than the original estimate due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic.   Any ongoing variances between actual expenditure and budget identified in 2020-21 had been taken into account when preparing the budget for 2021-22. The deficit on the Collection Fund due to the pandemic would be spread over three years.

Following the Executive approval of the outline budget in November 2020, the Council had undertaken a public consultation exercise on its priorities for spending.  The results of the consultation were set out in section 11 of the report with the detailed findings from the consultation set out in Appendix 5 thereto.

This would be the final year the Council received the New Homes Bonus from the Government as the scheme was now closed. The balance of this fund by the end of the financial year would be £600,000. Part of this fund would be transferred to the Guildford Regeneration Project during 2021-22 and another transfer towards the cost of rebuilding Ripley Village Hall as agreed by the Executive in January 2020.

Having considered the report and having noted that it was proposed to freeze the fees and charges for General Fund services for 2021-22, the Executive

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the transfers to/from reserves as set out in Section 8 and Appendix 2 to the report submitted to the Executive be approved.

(2)   That the growth and savings items included in the General Fund Summary at Appendix 2 and set out in detail in Appendix 3, be approved.

(3)   That the financial risk register set out in Appendix 4 be approved and that it be noted that the level of reserves is currently sufficient to meet the Council’s risks.

(4)   That the findings of the consultation response set out in Appendix 5 be noted.

The Executive further

RECOMMEND:

(1)    That no changes be made to the Fees and Charges for General Fund services for 2021-22.

(2)    That the budget, as set out in the General Fund Summary in Appendix 2 be approved, and specifically that the Council Tax requirement for 2021-22 be set at £10,392,720.

(3)    That the Band D Council Tax for 2021-22 be set at £181.82, an increase of £5 (2.83%).

Reason:

To enable the Council to set the Council Tax requirement and council tax for the 2021-22 financial year.