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Agenda item

Budget

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to present the budget for 2023/24.

 

Recommendation

Cabinet are requested to consider and approve for recommendation to Council:

(a)        the Medium-Term Financial Strategy set out in Annex B

(b)        the Savings and Transformation items for inclusion in the budget, set out in Annex C

(c)        the Council Tax Requirement of £6,310,795 for this Council

(d)        the Council Tax level for Cotswold District Council purposes of £148.93 for a Band D property in 2023/24 (an increase of £5)

(e)        the Capital Programme, set out in Annex D

(f)         the Annual Capital Strategy 2023/24, as set out in Annex E

(g)        the Annual Treasury Management Strategy and Non-Treasury Management Investment Strategy 2023/24, as set out in Annex F

(h)        the Strategy for the Flexible use of Capital Receipts, as set out in Annex H

(i)         the balances and reserves forecast for 2023/24 to 2026/27 as set out in Section 5 of the report

Cabinet are recommended to approve delegation to the Council’s Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance

(j)         for any changes to the General Fund Summary arising from the Local Government Finance Settlement and the Business Rates Retention Scheme estimates prior to submission to Council

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to present the budget for 2023/24.

 

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the item, highlighting the budget setting process. They stated that the Committee would be  scrutinising the processes around the budget setting, and that the financial detail will be considered at Cabinet on the following Monday, which, subject to any revisions will go to the Full Council on the 15th of February.

 

The Chief Finance Officer  summarised the context around the budget, and mentioned the handouts that had been distributed to members ahead of the meeting. The Chief Finance Officer stated that the figures in the budget reflect the provisional settlement which had been provided by the Government in December. The final government settlement figures were expected at the beginning of next week, and any applicable amendments to the budget would be made once received. The Government has a requirement for local authorities to set a balanced budget, and this was touched on in the paper, alongside ‘stress tests’ for the budget and various modelling of scenarios, contained in the additional handouts.

 

Members asked whether there had been any indication as to what the Local Government Pay award for 2023/24 would be. The Chief Finance Officer advised that a statement from trade unions on30 January indicated that the claim will be RPI +2%.

 

Members asked about extended producer responsibility which was identified as a significant new funding stream in the report. The Chief Finance Officer advised that this was a funding stream that had been put forward by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) which would see the Council receive payments from producers who are responsible for packaging material. However, as the overall funding position was still unknown, this stream was flagged as a risk.

 

Members asked whether Community Infrastructure Levy and Section 106 fund were shown as revenue. The Chief Finance Officer explained that these funds were generally used to fund the Council’s  Capital programme, so were not shown as revenue.

 

Members welcomed the £1.2 million investment in leisure.

 

Members requested further detail on the contract inflation which was expected to go up 250% between 2023 and 2026. It was explained that this was due to increase in energy prices and challenges in the delivery of the Ubico business plan.

 

Members requested further detail on;

 

·         £4.2 m which disappears off of assets under business rates. It was clarified that earmarked reserves of £4.2m were set aside. The methodology used to collect business rates means that there is a deficit because of business rate relief, and the Council had set up a larger collection fund, which, although compensated for, it still led to the £4.2 m figure. It was highlighted that this would get paid back next year by the Government

·         Provision for financing of Ubico vehicles into 2027, which is £3.5 m. It was explained that the Council own most of the fleet, so the replacement of these are allocated within the capital programme, most of fleet will need replacing in 2027

Further details would be distributed on these by the Chief Finance Officer.

 

Members also requested detail on the following;

 

·         The pay award for councillors was represented as X% in the report - this was corrected in the council report as 4%

·         A point of clarity was requested, on Capital Spending this included some borrowing, the reasons for doing this is not explained within the document, It was explained that the Capital programme is financed through internal and external borrowing over a number of years, and that a prudent view is taken to this.

·         Capital programme figures on Annexes E and C should match up, and the reason they didn’t was related with timings of the preparation of reports, table 2 will be updated to reflect this for the Council report.

 

The Chief Finance Officer stated they would be available for all members who wish to have discussion about the budget, and that they would send members further details where these have been requested.

 

RESOLVED: That the committee note the report.

Supporting documents:

 

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