Agenda item - FINAL GENERAL FUND AND COUNCIL TAX SETTING 2024/25

To consider the Council's proposed 2024/25 General Fund Budget, Council Tax Support Scheme and proposals for the 2024/25 Council Tax for onward

recommendation to Council.

[REPORT TO FOLLOW]

The Executive considered a report in respect of the Council’s final General Fund, Council Tax Support Scheme and final proposals for the 2024/25 Council Tax.

It was RESOLVED that the following proposals be recommended to Council on 21 February 2024:

1. That the 2023/24 revised net expenditure on the General Fund of £13,571,480 be approved, as set out in Paragraph 4.10.1 of the report.

2. That the draft General Fund Budget for 2024/25 of £12,762,310 be approved, with no contribution from balances and a Band D Council Tax of £239.26 (assuming a 2.99% Council Tax increase), and as summarised in Appendix G to the report.

3. That the updated position on the General Fund Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), as summarised in Section 4.12 of the report, be noted.

4. That the minimum level of General Fund reserves of £3,537,794, in line with the 2024/25 risk assessment of balances, as shown at Appendix C to the report, be approved.

5. That the contingency sum of £400,000 within which the Executive can approve supplementary estimates, be approved for 2024/25 (reflecting the level of balances available above the minimum amount).

6. That the 2024/25 Balancing the Budget options, as set out in Section 4.7 and Appendix A to the report, totalling £1,223,852 and £95,063 for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) respectively, be approved.

7. That the events options, as set out in Paragraph 4.7.4 of the report, be approved for 2024/25.

8. That the Growth options included in Section 4.8 of the report be approved for inclusion in the 2024/25 General Fund (£167,120) and HRA (£47,265) budgets.

9. That the pressures identified in Sections 4.2 and 4.9 of the report be noted.

10. That the use of £200,000 of Business Rates in the base budget be approved, and any gains above that be used only once realised, and be ring fenced for use to maintain the Council’s financial resilience.

11. That the use of ‘pooling gains’ of £220,000, as set out in Paragraph 4.4.9 of the report, be approved.

12. That the comments of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, as set out in Section 4.16 of the report, be noted.

13. That the Equalities Impact Assessment appended to the report at Appendix D be noted.

14. That key partners and other stakeholders be consulted and their views considered as part of the 2024/25 budget setting process.

Reason for Decision: As contained in report.

Other Options considered: As contained in report.

The Executive considered a report in respect of the Council’s final General Fund, Council Tax Support Scheme and final proposals for the 2024/25 Council Tax.

In the absence of the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Transformation, the Deputy Leader advised that the 2024/25 budget should be viewed against the backdrop of Government grant cuts which totalled £5.3Million since 2010, and the need for the Council to have found savings of £14Million in this period when inflationary costs were also taken into consideration.

The Deputy Leader stated that, at the time of writing the report, the Government’s final finance settlement had not been published. The report included an assumption about the increase in the funding guarantee grant to the Council, estimated to be an additional £100,000. The report to Council would be adjusted when the settlement was finally published.

The Deputy Leader commented that the General Fund budget also now included the projections for business rates which were completed by the 31 January 2024. The Council had £569,000 additional income relating to 2023/4 and was projecting an additional £1Million business rates income in 2024/25. The draft budget had already accounted for £200,000 of this income. However, experience demonstrated that business rates income fluctuated significantly. This was highlighted within the report and, given the risk profile, the as yet unrealised gains had been transferred to the business rates reserve to support the resilience of the General Fund and delivery of the Council’s priorities, as set out in report.

The Deputy Leader explained that, as a result of the changes set out in the report, there was not expected to be a draw on balances for 2024/25. However, despite a £1Million savings target for 2025/26, officers were forecasting the need to use £638,000 of General Fund balances to achieve a balanced budget. The report commented that, if business rates income remained relatively stable, a proportion of this could be used to reduce the use of balances in 2025/26.

The Executive noted that the savings and growth package remained unchanged from that included in the January draft budget report, and the Deputy Leader welcomed the comment from Overview and Scrutiny in support of the HVO fuel which would reduce the Council’s fleet carbon omissions considerably. She was also pleased to be able to confirm that the savings package for 2024/25 was predominately funded from the Council’s Transformation and commercial activity without the need to make service cuts.

The Deputy Leader concluded by stating that the increase in Council Tax remained unchanged at 2.99%, with the caveat that SBC only retained 11% of the overall Council Tax raised.