Report of the Deputy Leader

The Deputy Leader submitted a report on the Budget for 2018/19, as set out on pages 67 to 72 of the agenda.

 

Councillor Andrew Rule proposed an amendment to the budget as follows:

 

In recommendation 2.1 (1) add after “the revenue budget for 2018/19”

 

“subject to the following:

 

Section 1	Net 2018/19 £
Voluntary Garden Waste – offer citizens a two month extension service to the current garden waste collection scheme for £7.50	-161,125
Bulky Waste – citizens offered two free collections per annum, charges of £15 apply for further collections	-98,181
Reduce the number of SLMG posts by 6 and replace with half the number of non-management posts delivering a part year saving of £202,805 (full year impact £347,666)	-202,805
Reductions in payments to Trade Unions £66,282 (full year saving of £88,376)	-66,282
Savings on the Arrow through a different delivery method	-75,000
Release £437,607 from uncommitted 2017/18 Area Capital reserves	-437,607
The redundancy and other associated costs (estimated to be £210,000) in relation to the removal of the above posts be funded from the Service Realignment reserve in 2018/19	Nil
Total net financial impact	-1,041,000

 

Section 2

It is recommended that review of the following areas be undertaken:

·  Thorough review of the City Council’s debtor ledger with a focus on developing a centralised collection point and clearing historic position

·  Develop a strategy for increasing the mix of affordable homes and Council Tax D and above properties

·  Review of corporate governance in Council owned companies

·  Identify and pursue commercialisation opportunities with other local authorities

·  Review possible commercialisation of trade waste collection

·  Review processing arrangements for garden waste”

 

In recommendation 2.1 (2) add after the capital programme to 2022/23

 

“It is recommended that a review of the existing capital programme is undertaken to:

 

·  Reprioritise resources to create additional funds to improve pavements. Councillors who use Area Capital fund to improve pavements o main thoroughfares could seek match funding from this fund.

·  Reprioritise to fund repairs to roads across the City”

 

And amend the following recommendations as indicated:

·  In recommendation 2.1 (3) substitute £109,365,220 for £110,406,220;

·  In recommendation 2.1 (3) (a) substitute £991,156,796 for £991,766,948;

·  In recommendation 2.1 (3) (b) substitute £881,791,577 for £881,360,728;

·  In recommendation 2.1 (3) (c) substitute £109,365,220 for £110,406,220;

·  In recommendation 2.1 (4) substitute £1,672.53 for £1,688.45

 

And amend the following sections as indicated:

·  In section 5.2 substitute £109,365,220 for £100,406,220 and £1,672.53 for £1,688.45

·  In section 5.3 and 5.6 substitute the following basic amounts of Council Tax for the ones shown in the report:

 

Band	Basic amount of Council Tax
A	£1,115.02
B	£1,300.86
C	£1,486.69
D	£1,672.53
E	£2,044.20
F	£2,415.88
G	£2,787.55
H	£3,245.06

 

·  In section 5.6 substitute the following aggregate council taxes for those shown in the report:

 

Band	Basic amount of Council Tax
A	£1,296.95
B	£1,513.12
C	£1,729.27
D	£1,945.43
E	£2,377.74
F	£2,810.07
G	£3,242.38
H	£3,890.86

 

Councillors voted on the proposed amendment.

 

RESOLVED to reject the proposed amendment.

 

Councillors voted on the recommendations in the budget report as follows:

 

	For	Against	Abstained
Councillor Liaqat Ali	P
Councillor Jim Armstrong		P
Councillor Cat Arnold	P
Councillor Leslie Ayoola	P
Councillor Ilyas Aziz	P
Councillor Cheryl Barnard	P
Councillor Steve Battlemuch	P
Councillor Merlita Bryan	P
Councillor Eunice Campbell	P
Councillor Graham Chapman	P
Councillor Azad Choudhry	P
Councillor Jon Collins	P
Councillor Josh Cook	P
Councillor Mike Edwards	P
Councillor Pat Ferguson
Councillor Brian Grocock	P
Councillor Chris Gibson	P
Councillor John Hartshorne	P
Councillor Rosemary Healy
Councillor Nicola Heaton	P
Councillor Mohammed Ibrahim	P
Councillor Patience Ifediora	P
Councillor Corall Jenkins
Councillor Glyn Jenkins	P
Councillor Sue Johnson
Councillor Carole-Ann Jones	P
Councillor Gul Nawaz Khan	P
Councillor Neghat Khan	P
Councillor Ginny Klein	P
Councillor Dave Liversidge	P
Councillor Sally Longford	P
Councillor Carole McCulloch	P
Councillor Nick McDonald	P
Councillor David Mellen	P
Councillor Jackie Morris	P
Councillor Toby Neal	P
Councillor Brian Parbutt	P
Councillor Anne Peach	P
Councillor Sarah Piper	P
Councillor Georgia Power	P
Councillor Nick Raine	P
Councillor Andrew Rule		P
Councillor Mohammed Saghir	P
Councillor David Smith	P
Councillor Wendy Smith	P
Councillor Chris Tansley	P
Councillor Dave Trimble	P
Councillor Jane Urquhart	P
Councillor Marcia Watson	P
Councillor Sam Webster	P
Councillor Adele Williams	P
Councillor Malcolm Wood	P
Councillor Linda Woodings	P
Councillor Steve Young	P

 

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  approve the revenue budget for 2018/19, including:

 

(a)  the recommendations of the Strategic Director of Finance/Chief Finance Officer in respect of the robustness estimates made for the purpose of the budget calculations and the adequacy of reserves;

(b)  the delegation of authority to the Strategic Director of Finance/Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Deputy Leader, to finalise the Medium Term Financial Plan for publication;

(c)  the delegation of authority to the appropriate Directors to implement savings after undertaking the appropriate consultation;

(d)  the retention of the Council Tax Support Scheme, currently in operation, for the 2018/19 financial year;

 

(2)  approve the capital programme to 2022/23;

 

(3)  approve a Council Tax requirement of £110,406,220 including the calculations required by Sections 30 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (the Act), as set out below:

 

(a)  £991,766,948 being the aggregate of the expenditure, allowances, reserves and amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) (a) to (f) of the Act;

(b)  £881,360,728 being the aggregate of the income and amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (3) (a) to (d) of the Act:

(c)  £110,406,220 being the amount by which the aggregate at (3) (a) above exceeds the aggregate at (3) (b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act, as its Council Tax requirement for the year;

 

(4)  approve a City Council Band D basic amount of Council Tax for 2018/19 of £1,688.45 being the amount at (3) (c) above divided by the amount at (7) (c) below, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year (as set out in section 5 of the report;

 

(5)  approve the setting of the amount of Council Tax for 2018/19 at the levels described in section 5.6 of the report;

 

(6)  approve the making of the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2018/19 in the terms of the previously adopted and amended Scheme, save for adjustments to mirror nationally determined rates for pay awards and travel and subsistence (as applicable to officers) and for carers allowances;

 

(7)  note:

 

(a)  a Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority precept at Band D for 2018/19 of £77.51;

(b)  a Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner precept at Band D for 2018/19 of £195.39;

(c)  that in January 2018 the City Council calculated the amount of 65,389 as its Council Tax base for the year 2018/19 in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012.