Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Councillor Shotton introduced the Council Fund Budget 2017/18 – Part 3 Closing Strategy report which provided an update on the remaining amount to be found to achieve a balanced budget.

            The Chief Executive explained that the remaining gap was £2m which was a slight increase to the figure of £1.9m reported to County Council in December.  The limited options available to close the gap, which were set out in full in the report, were:

·         Domiciliary Care – Charging Levels

·         Local Taxation

·         School Investment

·         Use of Reserves and Balances

On Domiciliary Care, a Welsh Government (WG) announcement had recently been made on raising the charging cap from the current amount of £60 per week to £70 per week from 1^st April 2017. For Flintshire, that would generate an additional income of £0.238m in 2017/18.  In addition, WG had announced that as part of the Settlement, an additional £10m to support the rising costs of domiciliary care across Wales would be provided.  Bases on an assumed formula distribution the Council should receive additional funds in the region of £0.430m.

The North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority had approved an increase of 4% on its levy which for Flintshire, when taking population changes into account, resulted in an annual increase of 4.52% (£0.317m) which was not included in the budget.  An option was to add the levy increase to the planned Council Tax increase which would raise it from 3.00% to 3.55%.

The Corporate Finance Manager explained that there was the option to utilise reserves to assist in closing the budget gap but that would only provide a one year solution.  As part of the approved Corporate Financial Stewardship options an amount of £0.699m had already been earmarked to meet the first year costs of the new UK Government Apprentice Tax Levy.  A decision on what was considered to be a prudent use of reserves needed to take into account both the future sustainability of the budget and the impact on the reserve levels which remained for future years.

The outstanding risks and issues, which were detailed in full in the report, were:

·         Single Environment Grant

·         Transportation Costs

·         Household Recycling Centres

·         Car Park Income – County Hall

·         Impact of the Outturn 2016/17

In response to a question from Councillor Bithell, the Chief Executive explained that the Police Precept increase was expected to be between 3.5/4%.

The Chief Executive explained that the report would be considered at a special meeting of Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 20^th January which all Members had been invited to.  Final budget proposals would be considered by Cabinet on 14^th February prior to consideration by County Council later that day.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the details and the implications of the Welsh Government Final Settlement be noted; and

(b)       That the limited options for closing the remaining ‘gap’ of £2m, for consultation with the Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee, be reviewed.