Agenda item

To consider a report by the Interim S151 Officer.

The Council considered the proposals for the 2019/20 Revenue and Capital Budgets Capital Strategy and Treasury Management Strategy.  In presenting the proposals, the Leader of the Shadow Council stated that the budget would set a firm financial basis for Dorset Council and acknowledged that the development of the proposals had been a demanding task for councillors, particularly those on the Budget Working Group.  The proposed budget would enable Dorset Council to invest in specific areas to help its most vulnerable residents and to retain frontline, critical services.   

 

The Interim S151 Officer confirmed that, in his opinion, the 2019/20 budget proposals were robust and that the Council would have an adequate level of reserves based upon the proposals set out in the report.

 

Cllr D Harris, speaking on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group, expressed concern that the Council was being asked to support a budget to fund an unknown agenda.  He considered that there was a need to have input from some form of area forums to ensure that strategies were delivered appropriately across the communities of Dorset and that reorganisation needed to be used to transform and improve services to residents.  He expressed concern that the assets which were not required to deliver services by the new council were built into the budget.  The following amendment to recommendations 1 and 2 in the report was proposed by Cllr D Harris and seconded by Cllr C James:

 

To approve the 2019/20 Revenue budget as set out in Appendices 2 and 3 on the understanding that the new council is required to do an immediate root and branch review of all assumptions, structures and decisions taken by the Shadow Executive, especially on Children’s Services and local decision making, involving a full cross party section of its councillors and its partners.

 

Following debate and upon being put to the vote the amendment was LOST.

 

The Leader of the Labour Group acknowledged that the development of a balanced budget for Dorset Council had not been easy due to the tight timescales and thanked the S151 Officer and his team, as well as the Budget Working Group, for their efforts in achieving this.  He drew particular attention to the medium risk scored against the budget and welcomed the small increase in funding for homelessness services.  However, there remained a significant need for affordable housing in Dorset, exacerbated by the issue of second home ownership, and he hoped that the planning system would enable something to be done to address this.  He asked how the cumulative deficit of £3.5M against the High Needs Block could be met without using reserves and how many agency children’s social workers were currently used by Dorset County Council and at what cost.  The following amendment was proposed by Cllr C Huckle and seconded by Cllr T Jones:

 

That the Local Council Tax Support discount be increased from 90% to 91.5% in line with most of the current schemes and the recommendation from the Shadow Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

In response to the questions asked, the Interim S151 Officer explained that Dorset County Council held reserves of £12.5M against the High Needs block to offset the deficit, although this was subject to disaggregation.  A response to the question about agency children’s social workers would be provided as soon as possible after the meeting and copied to all members.

 

In relation to the proposed amendment, the Interim S151 Officer explained that changing the Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) from the recommended 90% scheme to a 91.5% scheme would have a financial implication for Dorset Council and other precepting bodies as the LCTS impacted upon the Council Tax Base which was used to calculate the council tax charge for the year and the income that was received. Legally the council tax base had to be set by 31 January each year in order to allow the other precepting bodies to calculate their council tax charge for the year. For the 2019/20 financial year it was estimated that by changing to the 91.5% scheme there would be a loss of income of around £121,000 across all preceptors which would be split as follows: 

 

Dorset Council - £104,000

 

Dorset Police - £14,000

 

Dorset Fire - £5,000

 

Remaining with the 91.5% scheme would result in a reduction in the taxbase in 2020/21 which would also then impact on town and parish councils. This would either result in less precept being generated or taxpayers paying higher council tax for their parish. Using the average parish precept in 2019/20, this would amount to around £6,600 across the town and parish council sector in Dorset.

 

Following debate and upon being put to the vote the amendment was LOST.

 

The Leader of the Green Group thanked officers and members of the Shadow Executive for completing a complex exercise and commended the budget which, for the most part, protected frontline services.  However, she expressed concern that the report included an assumption that the Secretary of State would approve a request to move funding from the Schools block to the High Needs block and urged the new council to make a commitment that a cut of £3.1M would not be passed on to Dorset’s schools.  She welcomed the additional £150,000 for the homelessness budget but felt that this would make little impact and urged the new council to reinstate emergency local assistance funding as soon as possible.

 

The following additional recommendations was proposed by Cllr B Ezzard and seconded by Cllr D Harris:

 

1.      that an additional £5 million from the Council’s reserves be ring fenced solely to Children’s Services in 2019/20 on a one-off basis to provide stability whilst a wholesale review and reassessment of Children’s Services is undertaken;

2.      that the review and reassessment should focus upon bringing Children’s Services up to date and ensuring all services are digitally aligned for the future; and

3.      that the outcome of the review and reassessment should inform budget decisions in future years concerning Children’s Services.

 

Following debate and upon being put to the vote the proposed amendment to the recommendations was LOST.

 

The Shadow Executive Lead Member for Finance seconded the approval of the 2019/20 budget as recommended in the report, thanked officers from across the sovereign councils for working together on the proposals and reiterated the need for Dorset Council to have a balanced budget.

 

Decision

 

(a)       That the 2019/20 Revenue budget, as set out in Appendices 2 and 3 of the report, be approved.

(b)       That a Base Budget Review of Children’s Services is undertaken with the new Executive Director People – Children.

(c)       That the fees and charges for regulatory services, as set out in Appendix 4, be approved.

(d)       That for fees and charges that usually increase by inflation they increase by 2.4% for 2019/20.

(e)       That £700,000 is set aside for the costs of the local elections from the council tax surplus and that the balance is added to general reserves.

(f)        That the Local Council Support Scheme be aligned from April 2019 and limit the maximum support provided to unprotected working age claimants to 90%.

(g)       That in the case of vacant dwellings which require (or are subject to) structural alterations or major repairs, a discount of 50% of the full council tax charge be awarded for up to a maximum period of 12 months, from 1 April 2019.

(h)      For vacant dwellings, a 100% discount of council tax be awarded for up to a maximum period of 1 month from the date that the property became unoccupied and substantially unfurnished.

(i)        For second homes, that no discretionary Council Tax discount be awarded and in the case of dwellings which have been unoccupied and unfurnished for at least two years, a council tax charge of 200% be levied from 1 April 2019. 10.

(j)         That the Band D council tax charge be set at £1,629.75 for 2019/20 and that the full resolution on council tax set out Appendix 5 be approved.

(k)       The 2019/20 Capital Programme, as set out in Appendix 6, be approved.

(l)        That the 2019/20 Capital Strategy, as set out in Appendix 7, be approved.

(m)     That a Review of Capital be undertaken and reported to the Dorset Council Executive in September 2019.

(n)      That the 2019/20 Treasury Management Strategy set out in Appendix 8 be approved.

(o)       That £13.5m of capital receipts be used to fund the LGR implementation costs in accordance with the government’s flexible use of capital criteria.

(p)       The minimum level of general reserves be set at £14.5m and the maximum set at £29m for 2019/20.

(q)       That a review of reserves be undertaken and reported to the Dorset Council Executive in September 2019.

 

In accordance with the requirement to record votes on the setting of the council tax, the votes on the recommendations set out in the report were recorded as follows:-

For (98): Councillors A Alford, Peter Barrowcliff, Pauline Batstone*, B Batty-Smith, C Brooks*, P Brown, H Bruce, I Bruce, R Bryan*, N Bundy, A Burch, D Burt, D Bussell, S Butler*, M Byatt, G Carr-Jones*, A Cattaway*, A Chase, S Christopher, A Clarke, R Coatsworth, T Coombs*, H Cox, D Croney*, KD Johnson, G Duke, J Dunseith*, M Dyer, J Ellis, T Ferrari*, S Flower*, V Fox, R Freeman, K Garcia*, Ian Gardner, S Gibson, B Goringe, M Gould, P Harrison, B Haynes. J Haynes*, F Horsington, S Jespersen, A Kerby, R Knox, R Kosior, N Lacey-Clarke, C Langham, G Logan, W Meaden, L Miller, R Nickinson, P Nixon, E Parker, M Parkes*, A Parry*, V Pothecary, B Quayle, B Quinn, M Roberts*, J Robinson, J Russell, J Sewell, P Shorland, D Shortell*, D Skipworth, J Somper, J Stayt, J Stayt, G Suttle, A Thacker, William Trite*, D Turner*, M Unsworth, D Walsh*, M Wiggins, P Williams and T Yarker

 

Against (38): Councillors J Andrews, S Bartlett*, D Beer*, R Biggs, D Budd, N Dragon, B Ezzard*, M Hall, L Hamilton, T Harries, D Harris, R Hope, C Huckle, N Ireland, S Jefferies, T Jones, O Kanji, P Kimber, R Legg, M Lovell, D Morgan, R Nowak, J Orrell*, C Page-Nash, R Potter, M Rennie, C Reynolds, D Rickard, C Sutton, J Tanner, G Taylor, A Weaving and K Wheller*

 

Abstain / No vote recorded (8): D Elliott, C James, S Jones, M Lawrence,
M Penfold*, A Weaving, P Webb

 

*Councillors with two seats on the Shadow Council by virtue of being members of both Dorset County Council and a borough/district council.