Issue - meetings

Revenue Budget, Council Tax, Medium Term Financial Plan and Capital Strategy 2022/23

Meeting: 23/02/2022 - Council (Item 107)

107 Revenue Budget, Council Tax, Medium Term Financial Plan and Capital Strategy 2022/23 PDF 709 KB

A recorded vote will be carried out in respect of the above item.

Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 places a duty to declare an interest on any councillor who is two or more months in arrears with their Council Tax payments if they attend any meeting involved in setting the Council tax rate for the local authority. They must abstain from any vote involved in the setting of the Council tax rate until they are no longer in arrears.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Mayor presented a report which set out the proposed Revenue Budget, Council Tax, Medium Term Financial Plan and Capital Strategy for 2022/23.

The Mayor advised that the Council’s financial position was relatively stable but it still needed to be careful, as the future was still uncertain. As part of the budget, the Council was proposing a 2.99% increase in Council Tax, comprising of a 0% increase in general Council Tax, and an additional precept of 2.99% for Adult Social Care.

The Mayor advised that the budget did not propose any cuts to any Council services. The public and the politicians had been consulted on the budget and all suggestions had been considered.

The Mayor advised that a minor amendment to the proposed budget had been received and he advised that he aimed to support the proposed amendment.

Consideration was given to the proposed amendment to the budget, moved by Councillor Cooke and seconded by Councillor Rooney of which notice had been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rules as follows:

“The Motion proposed remains to adopt a revenue budget of £118,328,934, but to propose the following amendment:

Replacement of Paragraph 54 of the budget report as follows:

54. A budget of £495,000 per annum has been provided for investment in services provided to residents. It is proposed that this will be spent on delivering the following main priorities

· £160,000 per annum to create a tree maintenance squad in order to initially clear the backlog of works, and create an ongoing tree maintenance programme to reduce backlogs potentially re-occurring in the future.

· £90,000 per annum to enable the Council to offer a subsidised Pest Control service to residents. This would include the recruitment of two additional pest control operatives.

· £150,000 per annum towards expanding the current youth provision, targeting areas of the town where crime and anti-social behaviour are high.

· The remaining £95,000 per annum will initially be held centrally, and will be allocated to service directorates throughout 2022/23 as other priorities develop”.

The amendment had been examined by the Council’s Section 151 Officer and he had confirmed that should the amendment be approved, the Council would have a balanced and legally, implementable budget.

Councillor Cooke spoke in support of the amendment to the budget.

Councillor Cooke advised that the amendment centred on issues that had been raised by members of the public.

· The Council required a pest control service.

· The issues with trees including overgrown trees and the lack of on-going maintenance of trees.

· The Council required a Youth Service offering and funding was required to resource the service.

Councillor Rooney spoke in support of the amendment to the budget and thanked the Council officers for their hard work in pulling the budget together. Most Councillors had received complaints from residents about the issues included in the motion. The funding provided the opportunity to address the issues.

Councillors Hellaoui, Mawston, Saunders, Arundale, C Hobson, Furness, Higgins, Branson, Uddin, Rathmell, Mason, Hubbard and Cooper commented on the amendment ... view the full minutes text for item 107

Meeting: 14/02/2022 - Executive (Item 100)

100 Revenue Budget, Council Tax, Medium Term Financial Plan and Capital Strategy 2022/23 PDF 747 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Mayor and the Director of Finance submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to present the recommended Revenue Budget of £118,328,934, Council Tax increase of 2.99% (see paragraphs 71 to 91 of the submitted report) and Capital Strategy Report for 2022/23 (see paragraphs 151 to 162).

Following on from the previous report presented to Council on 24 November 2021, the submitted report also provided a refreshed Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for the period 2022/23 to 2024/25 to reflect the 2022/23 Local Government Finance Settlement (see paragraphs 17 to 29).

The Medium Term Financial Plan update in the report was integrated with the £207.3 million Investment Strategy for Middlesbrough for the period from 2021/22 to 2024/25, supported by £102.4 million of the Council’s own resources. The updated Investment Strategy was shown in Appendix 4.

The budget continued to support the Mayor’s commitment to invest in Middlesbrough and transform service delivery for residents. It was intended that through the strategy the Council could achieve the challenging financial targets faced in the Medium Term Financial Plan period whilst ensuring that there was a minimum impact on the level of service delivered to the public.

In preparing the 2022/23 revenue budget and Medium Term Financial Plan, the principles set out at paragraph 30 of the submitted report, which were consistent with budget strategies in previous years and statements made by Executive, had been adopted.

In terms of the revenue budget, budget assumptions had been applied in respect of:

· pay awards (see paragraph 32 of the submitted report);

· additional employers National Insurance contributions (see paragraph 33);

· the Living Wage (see paragraph 34), inflation (see paragraphs 35 to 37);

· additional inflation contingencies (see paragraphs 38 to 40);

· spending pressures in Children’s Social Care (see paragraphs 41 and 42);

· Covid-19 ongoing pressures (see paragraphs 43 to 48);

· other spending pressures (see paragraphs 49 to 51);

· additional income (see paragraph 52); and

· additional investment (see paragraphs 53 to 57).

The report contained information on the determination of Council Tax (see paragraphs 71 to 91 of the submitted report). A number of factors had been considered in respect of the level of Council Tax increase including the current level of Council Tax, minimising the effect of Council Tax increases to residents, the current levels of inflation, pressures from caring for vulnerable people, the level of any budget reductions required, and the medium to long term implications of the Local Government Finance Settlement 2022/23.

In terms of the Medium Term Financial Plan to 2025, the following assumptions had been applied in refreshing the Council’s plan:

· national context (see paragraphs 100 to 103 of the submitted report);

· government funding changes (see paragraphs 104 to 109);

· local funding increases (see paragraphs 110 to 116);

· pay awards (see paragraph 117);

· inflation (see paragraphs 118 to 121);

· living wage (see paragraphs 122 to 124);

· spending pressures in Children’s Social Care (see paragraphs 125 to 131);

· Adult Social Care (see paragraphs 132 and 133);

· Covid-19 ongoing pressures ... view the full minutes text for item 100