Agenda item

To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance and Assets (copy enclosed) presenting the final phase of a programme of budget savings and other measures for recommendation to Council in order to deliver the revenue budget for 2015/16.

RESOLVED that Cabinet  –

(a)       supports the budget proposals for 2015/16 as shown in Appendix 1 to the report and recommends accordingly to full Council;

(b)       recommends to Council the resulting Council Tax increase of an average of 2.75% in 2015/16;

(c)        recommends to Council that £500k of general balances are used to support the revenue budget for the next three financial years;

(d)       recommends to Council that the delivery of the Corporate Plan takes priority in future budget setting rounds, and

(e)       reference to the responses from Assembly Members in North Wales regarding their position on the reduction in highway funding for Denbighshire and the allocation of funding for the M4 improvements be included in the Budget 2015/16 report to Council.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the final phase of a programme of budget savings and other measures for recommendation to Council in order to deliver the revenue budget for 2015/16.  The report also included a proposed level of increase to Council Tax and use of general balances.

Councillor Thompson-Hill referred to the outcomes of the budget workshops which had informed the budget proposals and he outlined the latest budget position.  He elaborated on the proposals for 2015/16 and resulting 2.75% average increase in the level of Council Tax together with the rationale behind the proposal to use general balances to fund the budget over the next three years.  In light of members’ commitment to delivering the Corporate Plan it was also recommended that this take priority in future budget setting rounds.

During consideration of the report the following issues were discussed –

·        Councillor Eryl Williams felt there was a strong possibility that 21st Century Schools funding could be secured for the proposed school building projects in the Ruthin area which would release funding to deal with other budget pressures

·        the outcome of the consultation on the future of in-house social care services would not affect the 2015/16 budget but savings from that process were due in 2016/17 – the spend profile for extra care projects for future years had been detailed in the Corporate Plan summary (Appendix 4 to the report)

·        reference was made to the work of the Caravan Sites Strategy Working Group in terms of the potential to raise council tax revenue for future years

·        Councillor Eryl Williams felt that indicative figures for capital receipts arising from completed school projects should be included within the Corporate Plan, particularly in terms of transparency – the difficulty of this approach was explained in terms of the amounts and availability of those receipts and there was little merit in pre-allocating receipts which had caused problems in the past

·        Councillor David Smith reiterated his previous concerns that significantly less was being spent on highway maintenance which may not be enough to maintain the quality of the county’s roads or achieve the Corporate Plan outcome for highways.  Members shared those concerns and discussed the cuts to the highway budget and loss of external funding and whether highways should be given priority for funding in the event of slippage in the Corporate Plan or availability of capital receipts.  Councillor Eryl Williams referred to the Cabinet resolution 10(c) of the last meeting and asked that responses from Assembly Members be included in the Budget report to Council

·        reference was made to historical reasons why Denbighshire’s council tax level was one of the highest in Wales and it was agreed that the Budget report to Council would include a comparison of council tax levels to show Denbighshire’s ranking overall – the different methods of aligning council tax levels between Denbighshire and Conwy if a merger was to proceed was also explained.

The Leader referred to the open and transparent budget process and advised that education and social services had been protected despite the difficult financial climate and reaffirmed his commitment to delivery of the Corporate Plan.  He also felt it was important to consider the impact of the budget cuts on the Council’s performance.

RESOLVED that Cabinet  –

(a)       supports the budget proposals for 2015/16 as shown in Appendix 1 to the report and recommends accordingly to full Council;

(b)       recommends to Council the resulting Council Tax increase of an average of 2.75% in 2015/16;

(c)        recommends to Council that £500k of general balances are used to support the revenue budget for the next three financial years;

(d)       recommends to Council that the delivery of the Corporate Plan takes priority in future budget setting rounds, and

(e)       reference to the responses from Assembly Members in North Wales regarding their position on the reduction in highway funding for Denbighshire and the allocation of funding for the M4 improvements be included in the Budget 2015/16 report to Council.