Agenda item

	To consider the Budget and council tax levels for 2014/15 following the recommendations of Cabinet from its meeting on 11 February 2014.   The following documents relate to this item:

 

The Chairman reminded Councillors of the various papers that had been previously circulated in connection with Council’s consideration of this item as follows:

 

(a)          Leader's Budget Speech (tabled at the meeting)

(b)          The report of the Special Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee held on 5 February 2014

(c)          Relevant extract of the minutes of Cabinet held on 11 February 2014 detailing Cabinet’s recommendations

(d)          Financial Plan - Report by Michael Hudson, Associate Director - Finance and S.151 officer

(e)          Wiltshire Council’s Policy on Fees, Charges and Concessions

(f)           Proposed Council Tax Resolution

 

The Chairman explained how she intended to chair the debate on this item and that the Council had a duty to set a budget. The Chairman referred Councillors to the budget process which included the order of those who would be called to speak, details of which had been previously circulated.

 

The Chairman drew Councillors’ attention to the requirements of the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 which came into force today. The Regulations required Councils to take recorded votes when determining levels of expenditure on services and the level of council tax to be levied for their area, details of which together with how this requirement would be incorporated into the Council’s Constitution were previously circulated.

 

The Leader of Council made her budget speech, copies of which were tabled at the meeting and attached as Appendix 1 to these minutes. 

 

The Leader explained that the Council’s vision continued to be to create stronger and more resilient communities. The Council would also continue to prioritise those who were most vulnerable and we would do all we could to continue to boost the local economy, and working with local people and organisations, we would encourage and support our communities to do even more for themselves. The Leader explained that she was confident that next year’s budget for 2014/15 would help us to deliver this vision and our key priorities as set out in the Council’s Business Plan.

 

The Leader highlighted the many achievements made by the Council and the priority areas which would as proposed in the budget, attract significant and increased funding.  She also highlighted the financial challenges ahead and the need more than ever, to work more innovatively and in partnership with other organisations.

 

The Leader made the following amendments to the recommended budget:

 

·         A re-alignment of £0.5 million each year for the next four years from the highways capital budget into flood prevention and protection reflecting the need to support and work with those local communities that have been most affected.

 

This means that £1 million will be allocated to help protect these communities which is in addition to any government announcement and funding streams allocated for flooding.

 

·         A transfer of £0.6 million from its transformation reserve to fund work on developing a single shared information system for Wiltshire with our partners in health.

 

At the Leader’s request, Cllr Dick Tonge, Cabinet member for Finance, Performance, Risk, Procurement and Welfare Reform guided Councillors through the detail of the budget papers. He explained that the budget had been aligned with the 12 key actions of the Business Plan and was both robust and deliverable.  Cllr Tonge drew Council’s attention to the budget consultation Feedback which included the budget consultation day on 10 February and the meeting between Group Leaders and Trade Unions on 6 February, details of which were circulated in the Agenda Supplement.

 

Cllr Tonge thanked Michael Hudson and his Finance team for all their hard work in producing the budget documentation.

 

Cllr Tonge proposed the recommendations of Cabinet dated 11 February 2014 including the changes referred to above from the Leader and this was duly seconded by the Leader.

 

In Cllr Simon Killane’s absence due to ill health, Cllr Roy While as Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee and Chairman of the Financial Planning Task Group, presented the report of the Committee dated 5 February 2014. Cllr While agreed it was a challenging budget and summarised the key issues raised by Scrutiny as referred to in its report.

 

Cllr Jon Hubbard, opposition group leader addressed Council on the proposals. He also agreed that the Council faced challenging pressures mainly as a result of reduced funding from central Government which left little room for manoeuvrability locally. He accepted that his group would have proposed similar proposals given such restrictions. He considered that any amendments proposed to the budget needed to be costed and deliverable. He referred to the amounts spent on consultants and agency staff but acknowledged that this was to ultimately avoid permanent appointments which could later leader to redundancies.

 

Cllr Clark, leader of the Independent group agreed that it was a difficult budget given the financial challenges.

 

Cllr Ricky Rogers, leader of the Labour group referred to the challenges being faced by the Council following continued reductions in Government funding. He considered the administration had stepped up to meet those challenges. He referred to seven concerns that he had in particular and was fearful that the Council was getting to a stage of cutting valued services. He would be in favour of reducing money on highways and redirecting it at youth services.

 

Group Leaders having addressed the budget as proposed were then given an opportunity of proposing any amendments.

 

Cllr Jon Hubbard proposed the following amendment which was duly seconded by Cllr Glenis Ansell:

 

To increase the proposed budget for Integrated Youth by £250,000 to a figure of £3.232m funded through:

 

·         Ceasing to produce printed agendas and minutes for elected members for all council meetings. For the avoidance of doubt this includes Full Council, all committees and task groups including joint committees where Wiltshire Council is the lead council.

 

To facilitate the paperless working for elected members a tablet computer will be provided on request which will provide appropriate access to electronic versions of all relevant papers.

 

This will produce an annual saving of £100,000.

 

·         Reduce the Members Development Fund by £25,000.

 

Whilst recognising that member development is important, this needs to be balanced against the delivery of front line services.

 

·         Undertake an audit of the cost effectiveness of the provision of premises from which Youth Work is currently delivered.  Where appropriate negotiate a viable and local alternative that can be secured by the council to deliver at least the current hours required by the service.

 

Work undertaken with officers had identified savings of at least £125,000 from this approach which can be realised in the 2014/15 financial year.

 

CllrTonge and the Leader as the mover and seconder respectively of the motion, accepted the above amendments which would be incorporated into the main motion.

 

The debate was then opened to all other Councillors.  Cllr Jeff Osborn proposed the following motion which was duly seconded by Cllr Terry Chivers:

 

·         That this Council reinstate the proposed approximate £25,000 budget cut in support for the highly valued Link Schemes across the county. This will be funded by undertaking an audit of the cost effectiveness of the provision of premises from which Youth Work is currently delivered.  Where appropriate negotiate a viable and local alternative that can be secured by the council to deliver at least the current hours required by the service. Work undertaken with officers has identified savings of at least £125,000 from this approach which can be realised in the 2014/15 financial year.

 

Cllr John Thomson, Cabinet member for Highways, Streetscene and Broadband explained the operation and funding streams of the Link scheme. He noted that most of the trips made under the Link scheme were health related which was not reflected in the funding contribution from the NHS. Cllr Thomson was working on a proposal to simplify the operation of the scheme with more involvement by Area Board to enable them to support their local Link schemes. This would also involve transferring funding to the Area Boards to allow them to administer their own schemes. This proposal was subject to consultation.  On this basis, Cllr Thomson urged Councillors not to support the amendment.

 

Cllr Jeff Osborn thanked Cllr Thomson for this clarification and asked for full details of what was being proposed to be circulated to Councillors and with agreement from his seconder, agreed to withdraw his amendment.

 

A debate ensued on the main motion which now included the amendments from the Leader and amendments from Cllr Jon Hubbard to which Cllr Tonge, the Leader or relevant Cabinet member responded. There was some concern expressed on the accepted amendment from Cllr Hubbard in respect of discontinuing the circulation of hard copies of agenda to Councillors. Some Councillors commented that this had been raised without full consultation or scrutiny.

 

Resolved:

 

1. Endorses the update of the Financial Plan for 2014/15 subject to the following amendments:

                      i.        A re-alignment of £0.5 million each year for the next four years from the highways capital budget into flood prevention and protection reflecting the need to support and work with those local communities that have been most affected.

 

This means that £1 million will be allocated to help protect these communities which is in addition to any government announcement and funding streams allocated for flooding.

 

A transfer of £0.6 million from its transformation reserve to fund work on developing a single shared information system for Wiltshire with our partners in health.

 

                    ii.        Ceasing to produce printed agendas and minutes for elected members for all council meetings. For the avoidance of doubt this includes Full Council, all committees and task groups including joint committees where Wiltshire Council is the lead council.

 

To facilitate the paperless working for elected members a tablet computer will be provided on request which will provide appropriate access to electronic versions of all relevant papers. This will produce an annual saving of £100,000.

 

                   iii.        Reduce the Members Development Fund by £25,000.

 

Whilst recognising that member development is important, this needs to be balanced against the delivery of front line services.

 

                   iv.        Undertake an audit of the cost effectiveness of the provision of premises from which Youth Work is currently delivered.  Where appropriate negotiate a viable and local alternative that can be secured by the council to deliver at least the current hours required by the service.

 

Work undertaken with officers has identified savings of at least £125,000 from this approach which can be realised in the 2014/15 financial year.

 

2. Approve the savings and investment proposals summarised at Sections 9 and 7 respectively of this report and at Appendix 1, to provide a net revenue budget for 2014/15 of £333.063 million.

 

3. To:

 

                 i.          Freeze Wiltshire Council’s element of the Band D council tax for 2014/15 £1,222.43, as calculated in accordance with statute, as set out in Section 10 of the report presented.

 

               ii.          Set the Council’s total net expenditure budget for 2014/15 at £333.063 million.

 

              iii.          Set a 3.7% increase for dwelling rents in accordance with rent restructuring;

 

              iv.          Set the HRA Budget for 2014/15 (original) as set out at Appendix 1G of the report presented;

 

               v.          That all other service charges related to the HRA be increased by 3.7%, and Garages rents to be increased by 2%

 

              vi.          Approve the Capital programme proposed at Appendix 1F of the report presented.

 

            vii.          Set the changes in fees and charges set out in detail at Section 8 of and at Appendix 1H of the report presented.

 

Recorded Vote

 

In accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 which required a recorded vote taken of the Council’s decisions in determining levels of expenditure on services and the voting was recorded as follows:

 

For the motion (74):

 

Cllrs Alan Hill, Alan MacRae, Allison Bucknell, Andrew Davis, Bill Douglas, Bill Moss, Bob Jones MBE, Bridget Wayman, Charles Howard, Christine Crisp, Christopher Devine, Christopher Newbury, Christopher Williams, Chuck Berry, David Jenkins, Dennis Drewett, Desna Allen, Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Fred Westmoreland, George Jeans, Glenis Ansell, Graham Payne, Graham Wright, Helen Osborn, Howard Greenman, Howard Marshall, Ian West, Jacqui Lay, Jane Scott, Jeff Osborn, Jemima Milton, Jerry kunkler, John Knight, John Noeken, John Smale, John Thompson, Jon Hubbard, Jonathon Seed, Jose Green, Julian Johnson, Keith Humphries, Laura Mayes, Linda Packard, Magnus Macdonald, Mark Connolly, Mark Packard, Mary Champion, Mary Douglas, Mike Hewitt, Mollie Groom, Nick Blakemore, Nick Watts, Nina Phillips, Pat Aves, Paul oatway, Peter Evans, Peter Hutton, Philip Whitehead, Pip Ridout, Richard Britton, Richard Clewer, Richard Gamble, Richard Tonge, Rosemary Brown, Roy While, Russell Hawker, Sheila Parker, Simon Jacobs, Stuart Wheeler, Sue Evans, Terry Chivers, Toby Sturgis, Tony Deane, Tony Trotman.

 

Against the motion (5):

 

Cllrs Chris Caswill, David Pollit, Ernie Clark, Peter Edge, Trevor Carbin.

 

Abstentions (7):

 

Cllrs Christ Hurst, Gordon King, Ian McLennan, Ian Tomes, John  Walsh, Rick Rogers, Stephen Oldrieve.