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Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Transformation
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: No
The report recommends to the Executive bids to be funded from internal or external funds, non-cash limit items, revenue savings and proposals, priority policy fund bids and changes to the Capital Plan. The report will also recommend the Council Tax level for 2015/16.
Matter
for Decision: The Budget-Setting
Report (BSR) provided an overview of the review of the key assumptions. It
included the detailed revenue bids and savings and set out the key parameters
for the detailed recommendations and budget finalisation to be considered at
the meeting of The Executive on 22 January 2015. The Executive would make final
budget recommendations to Council, for consideration at its meeting on 26
February 2015.
Decision of the Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources
The Executive Councillor resolved to:
General Fund
Revenue Budgets: [Section 5, page 28 of the BSR refers]
i.
Agree any
recommendations for submission to the Executive in respect of:
-
Revenue Pressures
shown in Appendix B(a) and Savings shown in Appendix B(b).
-
Priority Policy
Fund (PPF) Bids as shown in Appendix B(c) of the BSR.
-
Bids to be funded
from External or Earmarked Funds as shown in Appendix B(d) of the BSR.
-
Non Cash Limit
items as shown in Appendix B(e) of the BSR
ii
Formally confirm
delegation to the Chief Financial Officer (Head of Finance) of the calculation
and determination of the Council Tax taxbase
(including submission of the National Non-Domestic Rates Forecast Form, NNDR1,
for each financial year) as set out in Appendix A(a) of the BSR.
iii
Recommend to
Council the level of Council Tax for 2015/16 as set out in Section 4 [page 26
of the BSR refers].
Note
that the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel will meet on 28 January 2015 to consider
the precept proposed by the Police and Crime Commissioner, Cambridgeshire &
Peterborough Fire Authority will meet on 12 February 2015 and Cambridgeshire
County Council will meet on 17 February 2015 to consider the amounts in
precepts to be issued to the City Council for the year 2015/16.
Treasury
Management (see separate report).
Other
Revenue:
ii
Delegate to the
Head of Finance authority to finalise changes relating to any corporate and/or
departmental restructuring and any reallocation of support service and central
costs, in accordance with the CIPFA Service Reporting Code of Practice for
Local Authorities (SeRCOP).
iii
Approve an
amendment to the remit for the “Sharing Prosperity Fund” so that the revised
remit (changes are underlined) is
Capital:
[Section 7, page 35 of the BSR refers]
Capital
Plan:
ii
Agree any
recommendations to the Executive in respect of the proposals outlined in Appendix
D(a) of the BSR for approval to include in the Capital Plan, or put on the
Projects Under Development or Hold Lists, including any additional use of
revenue resources required.
iii
Agree the revised
Capital Plan as set out in Appendix D(c) of the BSR, the Projects Under
Development and Hold lists set out in Appendices D(d) and D(e) respectively and
the Funding as set out in Section 7, page 41 of the BSR for the General Fund.
General
Fund Reserves:
iiii
Note the impact
of revenue and capital budget approvals and approve the resulting level of
reserves to be used to support the budget proposals as set out in the table
[Section 6, report page 34 and Section 8, page 46 of the BSR refers].
Reasons for the Decision: As set out in the officer’s report
Any alternative
options considered and rejected: As set out in the officer’s report
Scrutiny
Considerations:
The committee received a report from the Head of Finance.
In response to member’s questions the Head of Finance said
the following:
ii.
With regard to the process for non-vehicular
repair and renewal (R&R) bids:
-
Revenue R&R would be funded from the Revenue
Repairs Budget
-
Capital R&R would be funded via a capital
bid through the budget setting process.
It was noted that the current
Capital process was very complex and officers were working to simplify and
standardise it.
iii.
Commitments against the New Homes Bonus (NHB),
as shown on page 31 of the BSR, are the same headings as in last year’s budget,
and the priority order would be dependent on City Deal arrangements. It was
unlikely, with current allocations, that homelessness prevention would be
affected.
iv.
Car park income was very difficult to accurately
estimate. Whilst the Council used consultants to help predict the income this
was not an exact science and was affected by many variables.
The Director of Environment added that, whilst there were
many variables, there were also many constants i.e. growth of the City and
surrounding areas which could help estimate car park income. It was confirmed
that the Transport Strategy took account of the Park and Ride sites.
iiv
Budget Reference NCL3716 (New Homes Bonus -
additional): This represented income being put into projections for future
years.
iv
Budget Reference NCL3716 (New Homes Bonus -
unallocated): This was the balance of unallocated income which would go into
the NHB reserve fund.
ivi
Agreed to provide capital bid documentation
prepared in line with existing procedures for new projects to Councillor Bick
prior to the meeting of The Executive, if required.
ivii
A new prioritisation process was being developed
by officers. Whilst the old style paperwork would still be used during this
transition period officers were looking in more detail at projects during the
prioritisation stage.
The Executive Councillor for Finance and
Resources added that, in the past many projects had been added with little or
no business case and the new prioritisation process would address this. Park
Street Car Park and the public convenience project were examples of this.
iviii
Options for Park Street Car Park had been
consulted on but they had very different costings and
timings. Until a preferred option had been agreed upon the project was
therefore placed on the Projects Under Development (PUD) list.
iix
Whilst the Council needed to be aware of projects upcoming for the
Capital Plan, there was no need to allocate the money before a Business case
had been developed.
The Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources added
that more efficiency with the Capital Plan process was needed. Placing items on
the Plan that had not been fully costed simply tied
up money that could be used elsewhere.
In response to member’s questions the Executive Councillor
for Finance and Resources said the following:
v.
The funding for public conveniences would be
released pending the outcome of the review of provision. The funding had
therefore been placed on the Projects Under Development section (PUD) list.
The Scrutiny Committee considered the recommendations and endorsed
them by 5 votes to 0.
The Executive Councillor approved the recommendation.
Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor
(and any Dispensations Granted):
Not applicable.
Publication date: 07/04/2015
Date of decision: 19/01/2015