Meeting documents

To consider the report of the Strategic Director.

The Leader of Council presented and proposed the 2017/18 budget report to Council and the text of his budget speech is attached at appendix 2 to these minutes. Councillor P Batstone, as Portfolio Holder for Corporate Performance, seconded the proposal and her budget speech is attached at appendix 3 to these minutes. 

The Leader of the Liberal Democratic fully supported the budget as proposed.  As this would be his final full Council meeting, he paid tribute to the work of the staff at the Council, both past and present, for their commitment. The Independent Group spokesperson also supported the proposal adding that, as part of a lager partnership, the Council should in future be able to provide a better service to the council tax payers.

Following debate, the Strategic Director clarified that the figure in paragraph 28 of the covering report should read £345,000. The budget gap from the previous year of £1.378m had now reduced to £890,000 in the current year.

Upon putting the proposal to the vote, there voted in favour:

Councillors Batsone, Batty-Smith,  Brown, Burch, Butler, Carr-Jones, Cattaway, Cooper, Croney, Fox, Francis, Handford, Jefferson, Jespersen, Kerby, Langham, Milsted, Parker, Pothecary, Pritchard, Ridout, Roake, Skipwith, Somper, Mr Stayt, Mrs Stayt, Tanner, Walsh, and Westbrook.

There were no votes against the proposal

There were no abstentions.

DECISION

i.              That the funding for community-led housing developments is put into an earmarked reserve and that an action plan on its use is produced

ii.            That the proposals for balancing the 2017/18 revenue budget set out in Appendix 3 of the report are approved

iii.           That the 2017/18 Capital Programme in Appendix 5 of the report is approved

iv.           That the formal resolutions in respect of the 2017/18 Budget and Council Tax including details of the council tax levels for Dorset County Council, Dorset Police & Crime Commissioner and Fire & Rescue Authority and Town Councils are included in the Budget Report to the 21 February Council meeting and are as set out below

v.            It be noted that the Council calculated the Council Tax Base 2017/18

            a)         for North Dorset District Council to be 25,910.1 and that this calculation was carried out in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 as amended, made under Section 33(5) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (referred to hereinafter as "the Act").

            b)         for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relates as set out in Appendix 6i of the report, Column 2

                        (the tax base for each parish or town council area)

vi         That the Council Tax Requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2017/18 (excluding parish precepts) is £3,160,000 

vii        That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2017/18 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

            a)   £30,342,582           being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act (as amended by the Localism Act 2011) taking into account all precepts issued to it by Parish and Town Councils.

                                                     (Gross expenditure including Parish Precept and contributions to reserves)

            b)   £24,439,003            being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3)  of the Act (as amended by the Localism Act 2011).

                                                     (Gross income including reserves and government grants to be used to meet gross expenditure)

            c)   £5,903,579               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.

                                                     (Gross expenditure less gross income)

            d)  £227.85                     being the amount at 3(c) all divided by the amount at 1(a) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B(1)  of the Act (as amended by the Localism Act 2011), as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year (including Parish and Town Precepts).

                                                     (Average Council Tax at Band D for the District including Parish and Town Precepts)

                                                     e)   £2,743,579.23            being the aggregate amount of all special items referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act (as per Appendix 6i, column 1 of the report)              

                                                                        (Parish and Town Precepts)  

            f)   £121.96                     being the aggregate amount at 3(d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 3(e) above by the amount at 1(a) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item relates.

                                                     (the District Council element of the tax for Band D Dwellings)

            g) the amounts shown at Appendix 6i, column 7 of the report, being, for each parish or town in the Council’s area, the amount given by adding to the amount at 3(f) above, the result of dividing the special item at 3(e) by the amount at 1(b) above, in accordance with section 34(3) of the Act as the basic amount of it’s council tax in those parts of it’s area to which a special item relates; 

                            (Combined Council Tax at Band D for the District and Parish)

h) the amounts shown at Appendix 6i, columns 4 – 11 of the report, being for each parish or town in the Council’s area, the amounts given by referring to 3(f) and 3(g) above the formula and categories set out in Section 36 of the Act

     (Combined District and Town / Parish Council Taxes for each valuation band in each Town / Parish)                                          

viii       That it be noted for the year 2017/18 Dorset County Council, the Dorset Police Authority  and the Dorset Fire Authority have stated the following amounts in precepts issued to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Act, for each of the categories of the dwelling shown below. For completeness the charges for North Dorset District Council are also shown.

The Dorset County Council precept now includes a precept specifically for Adult Social Care. This is split as follows:

ix.        That it be noted for the year 2017/18 Parish and Town Councils have stated the amount of precept for Band D properties as set out in Appendix 6i, column 3 of the report, issued to the Council in accordance with Section 41 of the Act 1992 (as amended by the Charter Trustees Regulations 1996 and the Localism Act 2011).

x          That the Council, in accordance with Sections 30 to 36 of the Act, hereby sets the aggregate amounts in Appendix 6ii of the report as the amounts of Council Tax for 2017/18 for each part of it’s area and for each of the categories of dwellings.

xi         The Council’s basic amount of Council Tax for 2017/18 is not excessive in accordance with principles approved under Section 52ZB of the Act.