Agenda item

The Interim Director of Finance and ICT introduced a report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting. proposing the Revenue Budget and Council Tax for 2023-24.

The following additional information was reported at the meeting:

·        The final Local Government Finance Settlement had been announced on the 6 February which was too late for the details to be included in the report presented to this meeting. It confirmed details announced in December as part of the provisional settlement. However, the Government had announced a surplus on centralised business rates and as a result additional one-off funding had been made available to Derbyshire of just under £1m. The funding would be utilised to manage any uncertainties the Council had in-year and must only be used for one-off expenditure.

·        In terms of Council Tax, the Council had the option to go for an increase of up to 5% in 2023-24 and those details were set out and confirmed as part of the provisional settlement for local authorities.  That is made up of 3% for general expenditure and 2% for the Adult Social Care precept.

On the motion of Councillor S Spencer, duly seconded and in accordance with the Local Authority (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 a recorded vote was taken as follows:

For the motion:

Councillors Ainsworth, Ashton, Athwal, Atkin, Barron, Bull, Cupit, A Dale, Flatley, Ford, A Foster, M Foster, Gibson, Gourlay, Hart, Hickton, Hobson, Hoy, Iliffe, Kemp, King, Lewis, Major, Muller, Moss, Musson, Murphy, Patten, Redfern, Renwick, Siddle, Smith, Spencer, Sutton, Swann, Taylor, Wilson and Woolley.

Against the motion:

Councillors Bingham, Burfoot, Fordham, Kinsella, Niblock and Rose.

Abstentions:

Councillors Bryan, Clarke, Collins, C Dale, Dixon, George, Gillott, Greenhalgh, Innes, Mihaly, Ramsey and Yates.

RESOLVED to:  

1)   Note the details of the Autumn Statement 2022 and Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement as outlined in sections 4.3 and 4.4 of the report;

2)   Note the Government’s expectations about Council Tax levels for 2023-24 in section 4.5 of the report;

3)   Approve the precepts as outlined in section 4.5 and Appendix four of the report;

4)   Approve that billing authorities are informed of Council Tax levels arising from the budget proposals as outlined in section 4.5 and Appendix four of the report;

5)   Approve the contingency to cover non-standard inflation as outlined in section 4.7 of the report. The contingency to be allocated by the Interim Director of Finance and ICT, as Section 151 Officer, once non-standard inflation has been agreed;

6)   Approve the service pressure items identified in section4.8 and Appendix four of the report;

7)   Approve the level and allocation of budget savings as outlined in section 4.9 and Appendix six of the report;

8)   Note the comments of the Interim Director of Finance and ICT, as Section 151 Officer, about the robustness of the estimates and adequacy of the reserves as outlined in section 4.10 of the report;

9)   Note the details of the Council’s consultation activity as outlined in section 5 of the report;

10)                Approve the Council Tax requirement of £387,010,563 which is calculated as follows:

£

Budget Pressures and Budget                            641,217,881

Reductions

Plus Service Pressures – ongoing                         15,894,018

Plus Adult Social Care Precept                                 4,650,142

Plus Service Pressures – one-off                           23,707,000

Less Budget Reductions                                        -16,190,000

Increase in Risk Management Budget                       8,916,266   

Net Budget Requirement                                     678,195,307

Less Top-Up                                                         -97,773,890

Less Business Rates                                             -19,383,020

Less Revenue Support Grant                                -15,714,332

Less New Homes Bonus                                         -1,105,736

Less General Grant                                             -122,996,933

Less PFI Grant                                                      -10,503,833

Less Use of Earmarked Reserves                          -23,707,000

Balance to be met from Council Tax                  387,010,563

11)                Approve the use of the Revenue Contributions to Capital Expenditure Earmarked Reserve to provide one-off support to the 2023-24 Revenue Budget; and

12)                Authorise the Interim Director of Finance and ICT, as Section 151 Officer, to allocate cash limits amongst Cabinet portfolios; Executive Directors will then report to Cabinet on the revised Service Plans for 2023-24.