Agenda item

Report of the Director of Finance & Resourcing (Treasurer) and Chief Fire Officer (RC/21/1).

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Finance & Resourcing (Treasurer) and Chief Fire Officer) (RC/21/1) on options for the Authority’s Revenue Budget and associated Council Tax level in 2021-22.  It was a legislative requirement for the Authority to set a balanced budget and determine an associated Council Tax level prior to 1 March each year and this report set out the necessary financial background on which to consider the appropriate way forward.

The Director of Finance & Resourcing (Treasurer) referred to the report and indicated that the Council Tax referendum limit had been set by the Minister for Housing and Local Government at 2% for 2021-22. It was noted that there had been a slight increase in the grant made under the Settlement Funding Assessment (SFA) of 0.016% for 2021-22 amounting to an additional £0.035m of funding available to

the Authority but this was in the face of reductions in settlement of 24% since 2015-16.  Separate grants would be allocated to compensate for the loss of council tax and business rates due to the Covid-19 pandemic and these were presented as income in the report. The options set out within the report had been prepared on the basis of the need to use budget smoothing reserves to balance the budget with £0.362m of savings already identified.  Option A required a greater input from reserves to fill the budget deficit.

Reference was made at this point to supporting reform of the Service through maintaining investment in the Pay for Availability system at £1.422m which was half of the annual cost if all stations decided to take part.  A request was made elsewhere on the agenda for this meeting to earmark funding from the 2020-21 revenue funding underspend to cover the cost in 2021-22 should more stations wish to transition to the new system than budgeted for.  The Committee was also asked to consider a request to increase investment in 2021-22 to cover the cost of an additional 12 Firefighter posts to increase establishment temporarily for 3 years to support strategic workforce planning in the event of short notice retirements.

The revised core budget requirement for the Authority emanating from the overall decrease in funding was £74.222m (based on Option B, a Council Tax increase of 1.99%). This option did not require any cuts or additional funding to be identified in order that a balanced budget could be set. The options recommended in the report for consideration by the Committee in setting the level of Council Tax in 2021-22 were:

·         Option A – freeze council tax at 2020-21 level (£88.24 for a Band D property); or

·         Option B – increase council tax by 1.99% above 2020-21 (an increase of £1.74 per annum to £90.00 for a Band D property).

Councillor Coles MOVED (seconded by Councillor Drean):

“that it be recommended to the Authority that the level of Council Tax in2021-22 for a Band D property be set at £90.00, as outlined in Option B,representing a 1.99% increase over 2020-21, and that an additional £0.415m of funding be made available to fund an additional 12 development firefighter posts”.

Upon a vote, (6 for, 1 against) this was CARRIED whereupon it was

RESOLVED

(a).     that it be recommended to the Authority that the level of Council Tax in 2021-22 for a Band D property be set at £90.00, as outlined in Option B of report RC/21/1, representing a 1.99% increase over 2020-21;

(b).     that, as a consequence of the decisions at (a) above:

(i).       the tax base for payment purposes and the precept requiredfrom each billing authority for payment of total precept of £54,849,642 (Option B), as detailed on Page 2 of the respective budget booklet, be approved;

(ii).      the council tax for each property bands A to H associated with the total precept as detailed in the budget booklet for option B be approved; and

(iii).    that the Treasurer’s ‘Statement of the Robustness of the   Budget Estimates and the Adequacy of the Authority Reserve Balances’, as set out at Appendix B to report RC/21/1, be endorsed.

(c).      That the funding of £0.415m be made available within Option B to support the funding of an additional 12 Firefighter development posts in 2021-22.

(NOTE:  In accordance with Standing Order 25(3), Councillor Biederman requested that his vote against the above decision be recorded).