Issue - meetings

To consider the Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget Proposals 2022/23.

Councillor Hargreaves was invited to present the Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget Proposals for 2022-23. He detailed an amendment to the report for £100 to be credited to the Council Tax of those benefitting from Local Council Tax Support from the 31 January 2022. He indicated that he was happy to support the amendment.

Councillor Khan requested that Councillor Hargreaves retract his statement until the amendment had been proposed.

Councillor Hargreaves retracted his statement.

Councillor Hargreaves presented the report regarding Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget Proposals 2022 – 2023. He highlighted the following:

• Details of the proposed extra £150 relief for those living in Council Tax bands A – D properties, as recently announced by the Chancellor, would be paid directly to eligible residents whose bank details were already held. Letters would be despatched to obtain the bank details of other eligible residents to enable their payments to be processed.

• Thanks were given to the team of officers who had worked over the Christmas period, with some cancelling holiday to do so, as a result of the Government changing the rules on investments and borrowing in December 2021. The work ensured that Cabinet and officers had the opportunity to compare several investment strategy options and resulted in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) presented to Council.

• Details regarding the mitigating financial work in light of the recent planning designation and the potential loss of major planning application fees. This had been incorporated in the general fund budget for this year and the MTFS.

• Details regarding the proposed Council Tax increase of £5 per year on a band D property, an increase of 3.09%. Of the five preceptors, the District Council had the second lowest increase.

• The Council had a strong financial strategy with diversified income streams and continued to provide high quality services without the majority of the financial burden falling on local council tax payers. The budget proposed was balanced with no financial cuts proposed in 2022 – 2023.

• Despite the Government’s imposed requirements, the Council maintained a substantial investment income of £5.7million. The portfolio showed a £42million capital gain by valuation in September 2021, and that was before building was completed in places. The Government now required the Council to set aside the minimum revenue provision to prematurely play down the borrowings and the new Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) rules prevent local authorities from running their portfolios efficiently, preventing selling and reinvesting at the optimum times. This forced the Council to build large reserves for long term costs on buildings that were unnecessary as the intention would be to retain the building only until the optimal sale date.

Councillor Hargreaves proposed approval of the budget strategies and reports and requested that the Council noted the Equalities Health Impact Assessment.

This was seconded by Councillor Reeve.

Councillor Khan was invited to table his amendment, published as follows:

The cost-of-living crisis has been growing in scale and impact over the last six months, with inflation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85