Decision details

The Leader undertook to circulate to Executive Members the report prepared by the Assistant Director (Finance & Estates) which provided useful information on the methodology used for the calculation of the Council Tax Base.

The Leader asked officers to closely monitor the single person occupancy rate for Council Tax; and requested that the Leader’s Financial Services Group give further consideration to premiums for 2020/21.

The Leader referred to some recent misinformation provided to residents regarding the Council’s budget.  The Leader stated that SBC had reduced its General Fund from £15Million in 2008 to £9Million in 2019.  She commented that this had not been a wilful act of the Council, but had been necessitated due to a £5Million reduction in Government Grant funding over that period.  In addition, the Council had needed to achieve further savings to cover pressures such as inflation and fuel costs over the same period.

The Executive noted that the words “Draft General Fund Budget” needed to be inserted at the end of Paragraph 4.1.1 of the report.

It was RESOLVED that the following proposals be recommended to Council on 27 February 2019:

1.      That the 2018/19 revised net expenditure on the General Fund of £10,063,500 be approved.

2.      That a final General Fund Budget for 2019/20 of £8,802,520 be proposed for consultation purposes, with a contribution from balances of £48,446 and a Band D Council Tax of £210.57 (assuming a 2.99% increase).

3.      That the General Fund Summary, as shown at Appendix A to the report, be approved.

4.      That the Risk Assessments of General Fund Balances and the minimum level of General Fund reserves of £2,671,410, as shown at Appendix B to the report, be approved.

5.      That the contingency sum of £400,000 within which the Executive can approve supplementary estimates, be approved for 2019/20 (unchanged from 2018/19).

6.      That the 2019/20 proposed Fees and Charges increase of £219,790 Appendix C to the report) be approved.

7.      That the 2019/20 proposed Financial Security Options of £798,552 (Appendix D to the report and including fees and charges detailed in Appendix C) be approved.

8.      That 2019/20 business rate gains totalling £400,000 above the baseline assessment be ring fenced for town centre regeneration (SG1) (Paragraph 4.6.7 of the report refers) be approved.

9.      That 2019/20 business rate gains totalling £364,830 above the baseline assessment be used to increase General Fund balances for 2019/20, (Paragraph 4.6.7 of the report refers) be approved.

10.    That 2019/20 business rate gains totalling £275,000 above the baseline assessment be transferred to the NDR allocated reserve for 2019/20, (Paragraph 4.6.7 of the report refers) be approved.

11.    That the 2019/20 Council Tax Support scheme be approved, as set out in Section 4.8 of the report.

12.    That the advice of the Assistant Director (Finance and Estates) on the robustness of the draft budget and the adequacy of reserves (Appendix G of the report) be noted.

Reason for Decision: As contained in report.

Other Options considered: As contained in report.