Issue - meetings

(a)       That completion of Stages One and Two of the budget be noted with the exception of the Stage Two options for schools funding, car parking charges and Council Tax  levels, and the three requests made to Welsh Government which are under negotiation;

(b)       That the final forecast for 2018/19 be noted and approved taking into account the review of in-year cost pressures and their predicted impact on the following year;

(c)        That the arrangements for the third and closing stage of the budget setting process be noted; and

(d)       That the concerns be brought to the attention of the Cabinet Minister to immediately respond and assist a Council that was standing up against austerity in support of local services, and in particular schools.  There must be further assistance from Welsh Government for this Council.

The Chief Executive introduced the Stages One and Two of the Council Fund Budget 2018/19 and Planning for the Closing Stage Three report.  Appended to the report were Stage One efficiency options, Stage Two efficiency options confirmed, impact assessment summary and new cost pressures and efficiencies.  An amended version of appendix 3, impact assessment summary, was handed out.

An update on Stage One budget proposals was provided and covered garden waste charges and the integration of the music Service and Arts Development Team with Theatr Clwyd. The remaining items to be resolved from Stage Two budget proposals were schools funding, public car parking charges and the Council Tax increase.  One a potential efficiency from the GwE budget of 3%, he explained that the best collective outcome that had been negotiated was a 1% reduction in contributions.  However, with inflationary pressures the 1% reduction did not save the Council any funding in real terms.  The longer term budget for GwE was now subject to a review prior to 2019/20.

Details were also provided on three requests for support that had been submitted to Welsh Government (WG) which were on the maximum charge for domiciliary care costs, guaranteed continuation of the Intermediate Care Fund funding and retention of a proportion of Apprentice Tax Levy contributions.

The Corporate Finance Manager summarised the impact of the known outcomes from Stages One and Two which resulted in a remaining working gap of £5.9m.

On Council Tax, the Chief Executive explained that options had been shared with Members ranging from an increase of between 3% and 5%.  The Final Settlement from WG had set the Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) for Flintshire at £264.333m; for Flintshire to be funded at SSA and to maximise its local taxation income against that notional target would require an increase in Council Tax of 6.71%.  WG had confirmed that councils had the local flexibility to go above the previous annual ‘cap’ of a 5% increase if they had a strong local case.

The Council had limited useable reserves and a number of earmarked reserves which included some service balances carried forward to fund specific expenditure in year, and some reserves with terms and conditions attached to them which limited their use.  Work was underway to review all earmarked reserves and to challenge those that had not been used within the timeframe originally specified.  Any use of reserves to balance the 2018/19 budget would need to be repaid in a later year.

The Chief Executive highlighted one of the risks facing the Council which was the national pay award; the Council had budgeted for a 1% annual pay award in its forecast but Trade Unions were driving potentially higher awards.  WG had made it clear that it had no funding to meet higher than forecast national pay awards and expected the UK Government to make additional funding available for it to meet any difference in cost.

Councillor Aaron Shotton expressed his concern on the limited information on specific grants from WG with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87