65 BOS/17/30 DRAFT JOINT MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL STRATEGY AND 2017/18 BUDGET PDF 384 KB
Assistant Director – Corporate Resources
Babergh Cabinet at its meeting on 7 December 2017 considered Paper BCa/17/36, and at its meeting on 18 January 2018 will consider Paper BCa/17/42 (incorporating the Revised Appendix A).
Additional documents:
Minutes:
65.1 The Chair read out to Members questions received from Councillor Alan Ferguson and which was tabled at the meeting. He asked the officers to forward the answers to all Committee Members after the meeting. The Questions and Answers are attached.
65.2 The Assistant Director, Corporate Resources responded to Members’ requests to forward a detailed breakdown of the Transformation Fund to the Committee Members. In the future a copy of the Quarterly Budgetary Monitoring report was to be forwarded to Members. The report was also available found on the website.
65.3 It was clarified that report BCa/17/36 went to Cabinet in December. Report BCa/17/42 went to Cabinet in January and was the most up to date report of the two. Further updates were being added at the final stages before the report went back to Cabinet in February.
65.4 CIFCO investments, BMS Invest and it’s new staffing structure and the work for Investment and Development were yet to be finalised and were not included in the Budget. The income for the Pre-application Charges had not yet been included either.
65.5 Members questioned the Council’s deficit and if reserves were still needed to repay this. Members were reassured that the debt was being reduced.
65.6 Officers clarified that there was £500,000 in reserve to pay for debt but that this was not a large amount for the size of the Council. The exact distribution of reserves was to be found on page 28, paragraph 13.5. The Transformation Fund balance of £126K was marked as the absolute final reserve.
65.7 Members then asked if additional information was going to be added to the report for the installation of Solar Panels and CIFCO. The response was that the Solar panels were included in the General Fund, but as CIFCO was an independent company, it would provide its own report to Cabinet.
65.8 Members asked for clarification on the Debt Cap (page 33, paragraph 18.9) and the prediction for the next years and officers explained how the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) had previously been maintained, and that the HRA and 30-year Business Plan were a calculated projection of how the funding would be achieved. The Government’s announcement that councils could increase rents CPI by + 1% and had an impact on the HRA’s Income and Expenditure for 2020/21 and the Business Plan. It was confirmed that the Debt Cap was fixed by the Government.
65.9 In response to Members questions, officers explained that the Universal Credit, which was in operation as a full service now, and rent recovery had not yet had an impact on debt recovery. The Council had a good rent collection system in place and the Bad Debt Provision had been estimated to increase only increase slightly (Page 33, paragraph 19.1).
65.10 The In-year Operation Surplus Variance of £766,000 were explained to be mostly due to the revenue contribution from the Capital Program. Currently a review of the housing stock was being undertaken and an estimated Capital Spend ... view the full minutes text for item 65
74 BCa/17/36 - 2018/19 General Fund Budget - Early Indication PDF 383 KB
Decision:
It was RESOLVED: -
1.1 That the progress on developing the General Fund Budget for the period 2018/19 to 2021/22 and the intention to increase Council Tax in 2018/19 be noted.
Reason for Decisions: To ensure that Members were aware of the progress being made to set the 2018/19 budgets.
Alternative Options Considered and Rejected: That the progress being made was not reported in order to set the 2018/19 budgets.
Any Declarations of Interest declared: None
Any Dispensation Granted: None
Minutes:
Councillor Patrick, the Cabinet Member for Finance, introduced report BCa/17/36 and moved the recommendation which was seconded by Councillor Osborne.
Members noted work was ongoing.
By an unanimous vote.
It was RESOLVED: -
(1) That the progress on developing the General Fund Budget for the period 2018/19 to 2021/22 and the intention to increase Council Tax in 2018/19 be noted.
Reason for Decisions: To ensure that Members were aware of the progress being made to set the 2018/19 budgets.