1.  That the draft Financial Sustainability Strategy (Appendix 1 to the submitted report) be endorsed.

2.  That the draft Medium Term Financial Strategy (Appendix 2 to the report) and the resulting Medium Term Financial Forecast and Earmarked Reserves Balances up to 2024/25 (Annexes 1 and 2 to Appendix 2 to the  report), be endorsed.

3.  That  the Section 151 Officer’s report on the robustness of the proposed budget, the adequacy of the Council’s reserves and the Reserves Strategy (Appendix 3 to the report), be noted.

4.  That the appropriation of the sums to earmarked reserves totalling £3.37 million (Appendix 4 to the report), be endorsed.

5.  That the appropriation of the sums from earmarked reserves totalling £8.972 million (Appendix 4 to the report), be endorsed;

6.  That General Fund net revenue budget for 2020/21 of £130.428M (Appendix 5a to the report) and any required commencement of consultation, statutory or otherwise, be endorsed.

7.  That a Council Tax increase of 3.99% for the Southend-on-Sea element of the Council Tax for 2020/21, being 1.99% for general use and 2% for Adult Social care (Paragraph 10.10 of the report), be endorsed.

8.  That it be noted that the 2020/21 revenue budget has been prepared on the basis of using £2 million from the Collection Fund for the core budget to allow for a smoothing of the budget gap across the next three financial years (Paragraph 10.9 of the report).

9.  That it be noted that the position of the Council’s preceptors is to be determined:

•  Essex Police – no indication of Council Tax position;

•  Essex Fire & Rescue Services – no indication of Council Tax position; and

•  Leigh-on-Sea Town Council – proposed precept increase ranging from 4.72% to 8.30%.

10.  That no Special Expenses be charged other than the Leigh-on-Sea Town Council precept for 2020/21.

11.  That the proposed General Fund on-going budget investment and reprioritisation of £5.355M (Appendix 6 to the report), be endorsed.

12.  That the one-off investment items, as set out in paragraph 10.8 of the report and included within the appropriations (Appendix 7 to the report), be endorsed.

13.  That the schools budget and its relevant distribution as recommended by the Education Board (Appendix 8 to the report), be endorsed.

14.  That the Capital Investment Strategy for 2020/21 to 2024/25 (Appendix 9 to the submitted report) and the Capital Investment Policy (Annex 1 to Appendix 9 to the report), be endorsed.

15.  That the new schemes and additions to the Capital Investment Programme for the period 2020/21 to 2024/25 totalling £28.4M for the General Fund and £18.7M for the Housing Revenue Account (Appendix 10, to the report), be endorsed.

16.  That the schemes subject to viable business cases for the period 2020/21 to 2022/23 (Appendix 10 to the report), be endorsed.

17.  That the proposed changes to the current Capital Investment Programme (Appendix 11, to the report), be endorsed.

18.  That the proposed Capital Investment Programme for 2020/21 to 2024/25 (Appendix 12 to the report) be approved and it be noted that the changes to the approved programme will result in a proposed Capital Investment Programme of £204.8M for 2020/21 to 2024/25 (Appendix 12 to the report) of which £51.3M is supported by external funding.

19.  That the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy for 2020/21 (Appendix 13 to the report) and the prudential indicators (Appendix 14 to the report), be endorsed.

20.  That the operational boundary and authorised limits for borrowing for 2020/21 are set at £375M and £385M respectively (Appendix 14 to the report).”