Report of the Executive Director (Finance and Resources) attached

The Council considered a report of the Executive Director (Finance and Resources) presenting the Cabinet's revenue budget and Council Tax for 2020/21 financial year, together with Minutes 691 and 692 of Cabinet held 16th January 2020 and Minutes 798 to 800 of Cabinet held on 11th February 2020, and Scrutiny Minutes 742, 760, 773 and 774.

                                                       

The Council suspended the relevant parts of Council Procedure Rule 10 to permit the extended budget speeches of the Leader of the Council and of the Leader of the Opposition Group.

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10.1(e) Councillor Cox, has submitted one amendment to the Budget.

 

The amendments were voted on by way of a named vote as required by law.  The voting was as follows:-

 

For the amendment:

 

Cllrs Boyd, Bright, Buck, Burzotta, Cox, Davidson, Dear, F. Evans, Flewitt, Folkard, Garne, Garston, Habermel, Jarvis, McGlone, Moring, Nelson, Salter, Walker (19)

 

Against the amendment:

 

Cllrs Aylen, Ayling, Beck, Borton, Burton, Chalk, Collins, Cowan, Dent, K. Evans, George, Gilbert, Harp, Hooper, Jones, Kelly, Mitchell, Mulroney, Nevin, Robinson, Shead, Stafford, Thompson, Wakefield, Ward, Wexham, Willis and Woodley (28)

 

Abstentions:

 

Cllr Lamb (1)

 

Absent:

 

Cllrs McDonald, Terry and Van Looy (3)

 

The amendment was not carried.

 

The substantive budget proposals were then voted on by way of a named vote as required by law.  The voting was as follows:-

 

For the budget:

 

Cllrs Aylen, Ayling, Beck, Borton, Burton, Chalk, Collins, Cowan, Dent, K. Evans, George, Gilbert, Harp, Hooper, Jones, Kelly, Mitchell, Mulroney, Nevin, Robinson, Shead, Stafford, Thompson, Wakefield, Ward, Wexham, Willis and Woodley (28)

 

 

Against the budget:

 

None

 

Abstentions:

 

Cllrs Boyd, Bright, Buck, Burzotta, Cox, Davidson, Dear, F. Evans, Flewitt, Folkard, Garne, Garston, Habermel, Jarvis, McGlone, Moring, Nelson, Salter, Walker (19)

(Cllr Lamb: no vote);

 

Absent:

 

Cllrs McDonald, Terry and Van Looy (3)

 

The Council Budget 2020/21 proposals were carried, as set out as follows:

 

Resolved:

 

With regard to the Housing Revenue Account Budget 2020/21 and rent setting:

 

1. That an average rent increase of 2.7% on all tenancies, be approved.

 

2. That an average rent increase of 2.7% on shared ownership properties, be approved.

 

3. That an increase of 2.7% for garage rents to £12.02 per week for tenants and £14.42 for non-tenants (being £12.02 plus VAT), a rise consistent with the proposal for the main rent increase (all variants on a standard garage will receive a proportionate increase.), be approved.

 

4. That the rent charges in 1-3 above be effective from 6^th April 2020.

 

5. That the South Essex Homes core management fee at £6,114,000 for 2020/21, be approved.

 

6. That the South Essex Homes proposals for average increases of 6.36% in service charges and 16.69% in heating charges to reflect the actual costs incurred, be approved.

 

7. That the following appropriations, be approved:

 

·         £60,000 to the Repairs Contract Pensions Reserve;

·         £5,126,000 to the Capital Investment Reserve; and

·         £8,708,000 from the Capital Investment Reserve.

 

8. That, the HRA budget for 2020/21, as set out in Appendix 1 to the submitted report to Cabinet on 11^th February 2020, be approved.

 

9. That the value of the Council’s capital allowance for 2020/21 be declared as £57, 261,000, as determined in accordance with Regulation 16 of the Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) Regulations.

 

 

With regard to Treasury Management 2020/21:

 

10. That the Treasury Management Policy Statement set out at Appendix 1 to the Cabinet report, be approved.

 

11. That the Treasury Management Strategy set out at Appendix 2 to the Cabinet report, be approved.

 

12. That the Annual Treasury Management Investment Strategy set out at Appendix 3 to the Cabinet report, be approved.

 

 

With regard to the General Fund Revenue Budget 2020/21:

 

13. That the Financial Sustainability Strategy set out at Appendix 1 to the Cabinet report, be approved.

 

14. That the Medium Term Financial Strategy set out at Appendix 2 to the Cabinet report and the resulting Medium Term Financial Forecast and Earmarked Reserves Balances up to 2024/25 (Annexes 1 and 2 to Appendix 2), be approved.

 

15. 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 Cabinet report), be noted.

 

16. That the appropriation of the sums to earmarked reserves totalling £3,370 million (Appendix 4 to the Cabinet report), be approved.

 

17. That the appropriation of the sums from earmarked reserves totalling £11.892 million (Appendix 4 to the Cabinet report), be approved.

 

18. That a General Fund Budget Requirement for 2020/21 of £130,428M and Council Tax Requirement of £84,347M (Appendix 5a to the Cabinet report) and any required commencement of consultation, statutory or otherwise, be approved.

 

19. 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 (Section 10.10 of the Cabinet report), be approved.

 

20. That it be noted that the 2020/21 revenue budget has been prepared on the basis of using £2 million from the Collection Fund to allow for smoothing of the budget gap across the lifetime of the Medium Term Financial Strategy to 2024/25 (section 10.9 of the Cabinet report).

 

21. That the position of the Council’s preceptors, be noted:

 

·         Essex Police – Approved Council Tax increase of 2.94%;

·         Essex Fire and Rescue Services: Approved Council Tax increase of 1.99%;

·         Leigh-on-Sea Town Council – Approved precept increase of 6.04%.

 

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

 

23. That the proposed General Fund Revenue budget investment and reprioritisation of £5,355M (Appendix 6 to the Cabinet report), be approved.

 

24. That the additional one-off investment items, as set out in section 10.8 of the Cabinet report and included within the appropriations (Appendix 7 to the Cabinet report), be approved.

 

25. That the Dedicated Schools Grant budget and its relevant distribution as recommended by the Education Board (Appendix 8 to the Cabinet report), be approved.

 

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

 

27. 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 Cabinet report), be approved.

 

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

 

29. That the proposed changes to the current Capital Investment Programme (Appendix 11 to the Cabinet report), be approved.

 

30. That the proposed Capital Investment Programme for 2020/21 to 2024/25 (Appendix 12 to the Cabinet 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 Cabinet report) of which £51.3M is supported by external funding (section 11.11 of the Cabinet report).

 

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

 

32. That the operational boundary and authorised limits for borrowing for 2020/21 are set at £375M and £385M respectively (Appendix 14 to the Cabinet report), be approved.

 

With regard to the Council Tax 2020/21:

 

33. That it be noted that on 16^th January 2020 the Cabinet calculated the Council Tax Base 2020/21:

 

(a) For the whole Council area as 58,680.94;

(b) For dwellings in those parts of its area to which a Parish precept relates (Leigh-on-Sea Town Council) as 8,845.24.

 

34. That the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2020/21 (excluding town/parish precepts) be determined as £84,347,396.

 

35. That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2020/21 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the Act):

 

(a) £358,007,092 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act taking into account all precepts issued to it by town/parish councils.

 

(b) -£273,212,304 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.

 

(c) £84,794,788 being the amount by which the aggregate of 35(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 35(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year (including town/parish precepts).

 

(d) £1,445.01 being the amount at 35(c) above, divided by the Council Tax Base shown at 33(a) above, as the basic amount if its Council Tax for the year (including town/parish precepts).

 

(e) £447,392 being the aggregate amount of all special items (town/parish precepts) referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act as set out below:

Band A: 33.72; Band B: 39.34; Band C: 44.96; Band D: 50.58; Band E: 61.82; Band F: 73.06; Band G: 84.30; Band H: 101.16.

 

(f) £1,437.39 being the amount at 35(d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 35(e) above by the Council Tax Base shown at 33(a) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no Town/Parish precept relates.

 

36. That it be noted that Essex Fire, Police and Crime Commissioner has issued precepts to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Act for each category of dwellings in the Council’s area as indicated below:

 

Essex Police: Band A: 132.42; Band B: 154.49; Band C: 176.56; Band D: 198.63; Band E: 242.77; Band F: 286.91; Band G: 331.05; Band H: 397.26.

 

Essex Fire: Band A: 49.26; Band B: 57.47; Band C: 65.68; Band D: 73.89; Band E: 90.31; Band F: 106.73; Band G: 123.15; Band H: 147.78.

 

37. That the Council, in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Act, hereby sets the aggregate amounts shown below as the amounts of Council Tax for 2020/21 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings:

Band A: 1,139.94; Band B: 1,329.93; Band C: 1,519.92; Band D: 1,709.91; Band E: 2,089.89; Band F: 2,469.87; Band G: 2,849.85; Band H: 3,419.82.

 

38. That the Council’s basic amount of Council Tax for 2020/21 be determined as not excessive in accordance with the principles approved under Section 52ZB of the Act, and as shown in the calculation below:

 

(a) Percentage increase defined by the Secretary of State as constituting an excessive increase for 2020/21: 4.00%

 

(b) Percentage increase in the Council’s basic amount of Council Tax:

2019/20 amount: £1,382.22

2020/21 amount: £1,437.39

 

Percentage increase: 3.99%

 

The figure at 38(b) is less than the figure at 38(a) above and therefore the Council’s basic amount of Council Tax for 2020/21 is not excessive and no referendum is required.

 

39. That the amounts payable in each town/parish at each band, comprising aggregate sums derived from all precepts, be as set out below:

 

Unparished area: Band A: 1,139.94; Band B: 1,329.93; Band C: 1,519.92;

Band D: 1,709.91; Band E: 2,089.89; Band F: 2,469.87; Band G: 2,849.85; Band F: 3,419.82.

 

Parished area: Band A: 1,173.66; Band B: 1,369.27; Band C: 1,564.88; Band D: 1,760.49; Band E: 2,151.71; Band F: 2,542.93; Band G: 2,934.15; Band H: 3,520.98.