Agenda item
Budget 2008/09 and Associated Matters
Further to Minutes 1132/07 and 118/08, the Committee considered the proposed revenue budget and capital programme for all the Council’s services. The report also gave details of the government’s financial settlement and the Council’s overall financial position. It proposed a total level of revenue and capital expenditure for 2008/09 and projected forward a three-year forecast of Council spending.
The report also recommended the level of Council Tax for 2008/09 for adoption by Full Council on 3 March 2008. An increase of 3.4% was being recommended, which was lower than any of the neighbouring boroughs, despite Sutton’s poor government grant allocation. This low level of increase had been made possible by the efficiency measures and service transformations that had been introduced across the Council, without adversely affecting the Council’s services or their delivery.
Additional information regarding the levies from the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, the London Pension Fund Authority and the Environment Agency, and the approved Greater London Authority precept had been received since the budget papers had been circulated. The impact of this additional information on the draft budget was explained in amended pages that had been circulated separately (Updated Annexes Rev 3 and Rev 4 refer).
Officers across the Council were commended for their input and achievements. Councillor John Drage and the whole Resources team were also thanked for their hard work and leadership in preparing the budget.
RECOMMENDED: That full Council:
(i) approves the Council’s revised estimates for 2007/08 as detailed in Section 4;
(ii) agrees that no revenue underspendings at 31 March 2008 be approved for carry forward to 2008/09 (paragraph 4.5)
(iii) approves the allocation of the Area Based Grant (paragraph 6.3)
(iv) notes the changes to the Concessionary Fares Scheme (paragraph 6.4);
(v) approves the Council’s draft revenue estimates 2008/09, prior to amendment for growth and reduction options;
(vi) agrees the arrangements for education services funded from the Dedicated Schools Grant (Section 7) and approves the Education Services savings and growth proposals detailed in Annex Rev 5;
(vii) notes the government’s warning on 2008/09 Council Tax levels and their threat to use capping powers (paragraph 10.4);
(viii) approves the growth and savings proposals set out in Section 11 and Annex Rev 2 for incorporating in 2008/09 estimates;
(ix) authorises Strategic Directors to progress the agreed growth and savings items without the need to seek further committee approval;
(x) agrees a central contingency of £3.5m (Section 13);
(xi) notes the precept level of the Greater London Authority, agreed by the London Assembly on 13 February 2008, and the resulting impact on this Council’s budget;
(xii) sets a Council Tax for 2008/09 based on a Sutton increase of 3.4% and the figures given in Updated Annex Rev 3, and in accordance with the draft resolution in Updated Annex Rev 4 as follows:
1. That it be noted that at the meeting of 3 December 2007 the Council calculated the amount of 73,000 as its Council Tax Base for the year 2008/09 in accordance with regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 made under Section 33(5) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992; (Council Tax Base for 2008/09 is 73,000);
2. That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2008/09 in accordance with Sections 32 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992:-
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(a) |
£404,351,000 |
being the aggregate of the amounts that the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 32(2)(a) to (e) of the Act; (the Council’s estimated general fund expenditure) |
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(b) |
£269,543,000 |
being the aggregate of the amounts that the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 32(3)(a) to (c) of the Act; (the Council’s estimated general fund income) |
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(c) |
£134,808,000 |
being the amount by which the aggregate at 2(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 2(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 32(4) of the Act, as its budget requirement for the year; (estimated general fund net expenditure) |
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(d) |
£53,869,000 |
being the aggregate of the sums that the Council estimates will be payable for the year into its general fund in respect of redistributed non-domestic rates and revenue support grant (together comprising formula grant), and increased by the amount of the sums that the Council estimates will be transferred in the year from its collection fund to its general fund in accordance with Section 97(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and pursuant to the Collection Fund (Community Charges) (England) Directions 1994 under section 98(4) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (as amended). (aggregate external financing adjusted for the surplus on the collection fund) |
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(e) |
£1,108.76 |
being the amount at 2(c) above less the amount at 2(d) above, all divided by the amount at 1 above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 33(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year; (Council Tax at Band D for Council purposes) |
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(f) |
Valuation bands |
(i) £ |
(ii) £ |
(iii) £ |
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A |
739.17 |
206.55 |
945.72 |
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B |
862.37 |
240.97 |
1,103.34 |
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C |
985.56 |
275.40 |
1,260.96 |
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D |
1,108.76 |
309.82 |
1,418.58 |
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E |
1,355.15 |
378.67 |
1,733.82 |
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F |
1,601.54 |
447.52 |
2,049.06 |
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G |
1,847.93 |
516.37 |
2,364.30 |
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H |
2,217.52 |
619.64 |
2,837.16 |
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(g) |
Column 2(f) (i) above |
being the amounts given by multiplying the amount at 2(e) by the number which, in the proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in a particular valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 36(1) of the Act, as the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands; (f(i) sets out the Council Tax for each band for Council purposes) |
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(h) |
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That it be noted that for the year 2008/09 the Greater London Authority has stated the amount shown in column 2(f)(ii) in precept issued to the Council, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of dwelling shown. (f(ii) sets out the provisional GLA precept for each tax band based on a 1.95% increase) |
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(i) |
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That, having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at columns 2(f)(i), and 2(f)(ii) above, the Council, in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the amounts shown in column 2(f)(iii) above as the amount of the Council Tax for the year 2008/09 for each of the categories of dwellings shown. (f(iii) sets out the total Council Tax for each tax band) |
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(Note: Words in italics are explanatory and do not form part of the formal resolution). |
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(xiii) notes the updated three year forecast and the aim to keep Sutton’s Council Tax increase over the following two years to a similarly low level to that in 2008/09;
(xiv) approves the Capital Programme set out in Appendix A and Annex CAP1 to the report, subject to the Modernisation of Learning Disability Day Services being included as a ‘signature project’;
(xv) approves the financing of capital expenditure from borrowing of £8.106m in 2008/09 (paragraph 9.3) and that this sum be taken account of within the Council’s revenue estimates for 2008/09 and the three year revenue forecast to 2010/11;
(xvi) delegates to the Chief Finance Officer the authority to allocate capital financing resources to schemes during 2008/09 as detailed in Appendix A to the report, for confirmation by report at the end of the year;
(xvii) approves the 2008/09 to 2010/11 Treasury Management Strategy and Annual Investment Strategy set out in Appendix B to the report;
(xviii) approves the prudential indicators to support the Council’s capital financing borrowing requirement as set out in Annex TM1 to the report;
(xix) approves the borrowing limits and treasury management prudential indicators set out in Annex TM2 to the report.
Minutes:
The following Councillor declared a personal interest and remained present during the meeting:
Councillor Graham Tope as a Member of the London Assembly and Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority’s Finance Committee
Councillor Sean Brennan moved the reception of Minute 166/08 and the suspension of Standing Order 14.1 to enable one member from each party group to speak for no more than 15 minutes.
Resolved: That Standing Order 14.1 be suspended to enable one member from each party group to speak for no longer than 15 minutes.
Councillor John Drage, Lead Councillor for Resources, made a statement about the recommended levels of Council Tax 2008/09.
Councillor Terry Faulds also spoke for longer than five minutes.
Following debate, the Minute was adopted on a show of hands.
9.38pm The Mayor vacated the Chair in favour of the Deputy Mayor