Agenda item

Council Fund Revenue Budget 2013/14

Decision:

That the County Council approve the recommendation of the Cabinet from its meeting held on 19 February 2013 as set out in Section 8 of the Cabinet report attached to the Council report subject to an amendment to recommendation 8.01.8 to include £3.155m of pressures in the budget (from £3.261m as per the report), and 8.01.11 to include efficiencies of £5.331m in the budget (from £5.437m as per the report) and to include an additional recommendation (8.01.14) that the appendices included in the report be amended to reflect the changes approved on the re-allocation of £420,000 from the Invest-to-Save funds for:-

(i) Car Park Charging and Car Park Enforcement - £185,000

(ii) Welfare Reform – Discretionary Housing Payments - £135,000

(iii) Youth Service - £50,000

(iv) Community Covenant with the Armed Forces - £25,000

(v) Flintshire Connects - £25,000

Minutes:

The Chief Executive and Head of Finance jointly presented a report which provided Members with the recommendations of the Cabinet for the Council Fund Revenue Budget 2013/14.

Prior to the presentation the Chief Executive and Head of Finance expressed their thanks to the Finance and other staff across the Council who had been involved in the preparation of the budget and for the valuable input from the Overview & Scrutiny committees.

The Council was informed that at its meeting on 19 February 2013, Cabinet had considered a joint report from the Chief Executive and Head of Finance on the Council Fund Revenue Budget 2013/14 which was attached at Appendix A to the report. The initial budget proposals considered by Cabinet on 18 December 2012 had been referred to Overview and Scrutiny for consideration. A summary of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees’ observations and questions, together with responses, was included in the Appendix of the 19 February 2013 Cabinet report.

The Chief Executive and Head of Finance gave a joint presentation and commented upon the following areas:-

· Budget Overview

· Budget Strategy

· Overview & Scrutiny Considerations

· Achieving a Balanced Budget

· Final Budget Proposals

· Estimates & Reserves

· 2014/15 and the Medium Term

Councillor A.P. Shotton, Leader of the Council expressed his thanks on behalf of the Cabinet Members for the work undertaken on the budget. He referred to the unprecedented cuts to jobs which were being made by English Councils and took pride in the shared decisions of the Council to protect services and jobs which he felt should be applauded. At the Overview and Scrutiny budget meetings, he had referred to the budget as a “stepping stone” budget and he explained that this was because of the difficult challenges ahead which would require brave decisions in the future. He spoke of the invitation which he had extended to the Chairman of Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Councillor R.B. Jones, to provide input into developing a Value for Money programme for the Council. He indicated that he was submitting an amendment to the recommendations to Council as set out in the agenda papers and circulated copies of his proposals. He was recommending that the budget be approved as set out in the report subject to the re-allocation of £420,000 from the Invest-to-Save funds for the following areas:-

Car Parking Charging and Civil Parking Enforcement - £185,000
Welfare Reform – Discretionary Housing Payments - £135,000
Youth Service - £50,000
Community Covenant with the Armed Forces - £25,000
Flintshire Connects - £25,000

He detailed his proposals and commended the budget to Council; the proposals were duly seconded.

Councillor P.G. Heesom spoke in support of the budget and explained that the budget setting had been difficult this year but that it would be worse in the next few years. He referred to the budget strategy which had been developed within the context of the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). Councillor C.A. Ellis thanked the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council for listening to the residents of Buckley over car parking charges and the provision of a Flintshire Connects centre.

Councillor R.J.T. Guest felt that the last minute changes to the budget were unprecedented as the Administration had had ten months to prepare. He gave notice of an amendment and asked for a short adjournment to allow Members to consider the proposals. On being put to the vote, the proposal to adjourn was lost. Councillor Guest explained that his amendment was to include four additional points to the recommendation to use the additional income to be derived from the anticipated collection fund surplus for Council Tax as reported for the following areas:-

· Playschemes - £105,000

· Public toilets at Caerwys and Cilcain - £15,000

· Swimming subsidy - £23,000

· Support of the Genesis Project for 2013/14 - £95,000

He detailed the proposals for Members which were duly seconded.

The Head of Finance clarified that the proposals from Councillor Guest would be utilising the anticipated in-year surplus of £0.750m which would be available if a collection rate of 98.5% was achieved for Council Tax. She commented on the changes made to continue to provide 100% support to those affected by the Council Tax Support Scheme for 2013/14 and the impact of this on assumed collection rates for 2013/14. She said that it was important to say that it was not a guaranteed income and included an element of risk and relied on the collection of Council Tax to the rate reported.

On the proposal to support the Genesis Project for 2013/14, the Chief Executive detailed its background and said that the funding for the project was complicated but that the scheme was fully funded for 2013/14 unless Welsh Government chose to withdraw its funding support.

Councillor M.J. Peers commented on the amendment from Councillor Guest which he felt fitted in with the priorities of the Council. He said that the playschemes were valued by parents and children in all communities and was part of priority 9 along with the request for funding for a swimming subsidy. He felt that the amendment to enable the public toilets in Caerwys and Cilcain to remain open complied with priorities 4 and 9 and he referred to the discussion which had taken place at Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee on the issue. He supported the amendment as he said that it was for small amounts but affected a large number of people in the County and would allow for tourism in the area.

Councillor L.A. Sharps welcomed the budget and highlighted the proposals by Councillor A.P. Shotton, the Leader of the Council, in particular the changes to car park charging which he felt would help regenerate town centres. He raised concern about the budget setting for 2014/15 which he felt would be difficult and also on the cost of Single Status and maintenance of the Flintshire Bridge. He was also concerned about the lack of progress on the regeneration of Buckley Town Centre and the Deeside Enterprise Zone.

Councillor H.D. Hutchinson thanked the Leader and welcomed the proposals by the Leader and highlighted the car park proposals and the Flintshire Connects scheme in Buckley.

Councillor J. Falshaw spoke in support of the amendment by Councillor Guest and raised concern about the closure of the public toilets in Caerwys and Cilcain. He explained that the cost of keeping them open was £9,318 which was significantly more than could be raised through the precept set by Caerwys Town Council or Cilcain Community Council. He said that the provision of public toilets was shown in Flintshire County Council publications about tourism and referred to the numerous rights of way in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Councillor W.O. Thomas referred to discussions which were due to take place with the local Members to try to identify a solution to funding the maintenance of the public toilets. Councillor A.M. Halford said that providing public toilets was a health and community service.

Councillor R.B. Jones referred to the Genesis Project which he said was a front line service based in Buckley which had provided help for children and families. He said that it had saved the Council £4m in six years because it had been funded by Welsh Government but added that this would end in June. Councillor C.A. Thomas sought clarification on the anticipated income from collection of Council Tax. The Head of Finance reiterated her earlier comments that on a collection rate of 98.5%, there would be an in-year surplus of £0.750m but that to use this anticipated income to fund other projects had an element of risk. This varied to the substantive proposal put forward by the Leader of the Council as this was for the allocation of £0.420m which was already included within the budget for Invest to Save initiatives. In response to a query from Councillor Jones, the Head of Finance said that the collection rate for the previous two years had been 99%.

A recorded vote was requested and supported by the requisite ten Members. On being put to the vote, the amendment by Councillor Guest was lost by 39 votes against the proposal and 22 votes for, with 1 abstention. The voting being as follows:-

FOR – THE PROPOSAL BY COUNCILLOR GUEST

Councillors: A. Bragg, C.S. Carver, A. Davies-Cooke, R. Dolphin, B. Dunn, J. Falshaw, V. Gay, R.J.T. Guest, A.M. Halford, H.D. Hutchinson, H. Isherwood, R.B. Jones, R. Lloyd, D.I. Mackie, N.M. Matthews, H.J. McGuill, M.J. Peers, N. Phillips, H.G. Roberts, N.R. Steele-Mortimer, W.O. Thomas and A. Woolley

AGAINST – THE PROPOSAL BY COUNCILLOR GUEST

Councillors: A. Aldridge, J.B. Attridge, G. Banks, G.H. Bateman, M. Bateman, R.C. Bithell, H. Brown, D. Butler, D. Cox, P.J. Curtis, R. Davies, A. Diskin, G. Diskin, A.I. Dunbar, C.A. Ellis, R.G. Hampson, G. Hardcastle, P.G. Heesom, C. Hinds, H.T. Howorth, R. Hughes, J. Johnson, C.M. Jones, K. Jones, S. Jones, B. Lloyd, M. Lowe, R.P. Macfarlane, A. Minshull, W. Mullin, T. Newhouse, M. Reece, I.B. Roberts, L.A. Sharps, A.P. Shotton, P. Shotton, I.R. Smith, S. Williams and D.E. Wisinger

ABSTAINED FROM VOTING

Councillor C.A. Thomas

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services explained that the debate would now be on the substantive proposal put forward by Councillor A.P. Shotton, the Leader of the Council.

Councillor P.J. Curtis thanked the Leader for the proposals to remove car parking charges for Holywell. On the issue of public toilets, he said that he understood from the Head of Streetscene that the issue was to be submitted to a future meeting of Cabinet for consideration.

Councillor H.G. Roberts thanked the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council and officers for their work in preparing the budget. He commented on the need to spend up to the Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) to ensure that Flintshire was not penalised for this by the Welsh Government (WG) in future years. He proposed that the Council Tax increase be set at 4%. This amendment was not seconded.

Councillor Guest raised concern at a budget which was agreed by Cabinet on 19 February 2013 and then alternative proposals submitted to this meeting. He said that the reduction to 97.5% collection rate for Council Tax was to take account of changes to the Council Tax Support Scheme which had been resolved for 2013/14 with funding from WG. He felt that there would be some surplus as a result of Council Tax being collected at a rate above 97.5% and asked how this would be accounted for. Councillor Jones concurred and asked questions on the Invest to save proposals, the reduced energy income generation from Landfill Sites and whether the figure for targeted inflation incorporated two figures; the Chief Executive, Head of Finance and Corporate Finance Manager provided full responses to the questions.

A recorded vote was requested and supported by the requisite ten Members. On being put to the vote, the amendment by Councillor Shotton, Leader of the Council was carried by 45 votes for the proposal and 12 votes against, with four abstentions. The voting being as follows:-

FOR – THE PROPOSAL BY COUNCILLOR SHOTTON

Councillors: A. Aldridge, J.B. Attridge, G. Banks, G.H. Bateman, M. Bateman, R.C. Bithell, H. Brown, D. Butler, D. Cox, P.J. Curtis, R. Davies, A. Diskin, G. Diskin, A.I. Dunbar, C.A. Ellis, V. Gay, R.G. Hampson, G. Hardcastle, P.G. Heesom, C. Hinds, H.T. Howorth, R. Hughes, H.D. Hutchinson, J. Johnson, C.M. Jones, K. Jones, S. Jones, B. Lloyd, R. Lloyd, M. Lowe, R.P. Macfarlane, D.I. Mackie, A. Minshull, W. Mullin, T. Newhouse, M.J. Peers, M. Reece, I.B. Roberts, L.A. Sharps, A.P. Shotton, P. Shotton, I.R. Smith, C.A. Thomas, S. Williams and D.E. Wisinger

AGAINST – THE PROPOSAL BY COUNCILLOR SHOTTON

Councillors: A. Bragg, C.S. Carver, A. Davies-Cooke, J. Falshaw, R.J.T. Guest, A.M. Halford, H. Isherwood, R.B. Jones, N.M. Matthews, N. Phillips, N.R. Steele-Mortimer and W.O. Thomas

ABSTAINED FROM VOTING

Councillor: C. Legg, H.J. McGuill, H.G. Roberts and A. Woolley

RESOLVED:

(i) Car Park Charging and Car Park Enforcement - £185,000

(ii) Welfare Reform – Discretionary Housing Payments - £135,000

(iii) Youth Service - £50,000

(iv) Community Covenant with the Armed Forces - £25,000

(v) Flintshire Connects - £25,000

Supporting documents: