Issue - meetings

(a)       That the recommendations of Cabinet for balancing the budget for 2023/24 be approved; and

(b)       That the level of Council Tax for 2023/24 as recommended by Cabinet be approved.

A report was received with the recommendations from Cabinet for the Council to set a legal and balanced Council Fund Revenue Budget for 2023/24.

Councillor Bernie Attridge moved a motion to suspend Standing Orders to allow Councillor Richard Jones to speak beyond the permitted five minutes in order to present an alternative budget, as the request to share a slide presentation on this had been refused.  He was seconded by Councillor Dennis Hutchinson.

Following advice on the procedural motion by the Chief Officer (Governance), the Chair indicated that she did not allow the extension of time to speak, as she had previously advised, and that the motion would proceed to the vote.

Speaking against the motion, Councillor Ian Roberts said that there had been opportunities for Members to make representations throughout the budget process, without any time limitations on speaking.

In exercising his right of reply, Councillor Attridge called for other Members present to be allowed to speak on the matter.

Councillor Richard Jones said that representations could not have been made at an earlier stage in the process as the original budget had not been provided at that time.  He therefore asked that both budgets be considered at this meeting.

Members were asked to vote on whether to accept the motion to suspend Standing Orders to allow Councillor Jones to speak on the alternative budget for more than five minutes.  On being put to the vote, the motion was lost.

The Chief Executive, Corporate Finance Manager and Revenues & Procurement Manager gave a detailed presentation based on the report submitted to Cabinet earlier in the day, which covered the following:

·         Setting a legal and balanced budget

·         The journey so far…

·         Changes to the additional budget requirement for 2023/24

·         Additional Budget Requirement 2023/24

·         Budget Solutions 2023/24

·         Council Tax

·         Schools and Social Care Budgets

·         Open Risks

·         Reserves

·         Professional Opinions and Concluding Remarks

·         Looking Forward

·         Next Steps and Timelines

The report detailed a number of changes since the position given in January, resulting in a final additional budget requirement of £37.098m along with the outcome of work on the range of proposed budget solutions available to enable the Council to set a legal and balanced budget for 2023/24.  On that basis, an overall annual increase of 3.99% was required on Council Tax for Council services and 0.96% for additional contributions to the North Wales Fire & Rescue Service, Regional Coroners Service and the Regional Education Consortium (GwE). This equated to an overall uplift of 4.95% which provided overall additional yield of £5.622m in 2023/24.  Comparative data indicated that this proposed increase for Council Tax in Flintshire was currently marginally below the overall Welsh average.

A number of significant open risks were highlighted for 2023/24 including increasing demand for the homelessness service and Out of County Placements in addition to emerging risks such as the potential waste recycling penalty, ongoing inflationary pressures and confirmation awaited on some specific grants.

The update on reserves included the latest position with the Emergency Fund and the list of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85