Agenda item

The Director of Finance submits a report setting out the City Mayor’s proposed budget for 2020/21 to 2021/22. 

The Commission is recommended to pass any comments to the Overview Select Committee as part of its consideration of the report before it is presented to the Council meeting on 19 February 2020.

The Director of Finance submitted a report setting out the City Mayor’s proposed budget for 2020/21 to 2021/22. Members of the Commission were asked to consider the proposed budget that would be proposed at Council in February.

It was noted that the proposed budget was set for a year and the General Fund Budget was proposed on a year on year basis. Fundamental proposed changes were to be considered by Parliament last year, but the fair funding review was side lined due to the uncertainty with Brexit. However, the Councils approach by having a managed reserves strategy has served us well and has allowed the Council to be prepared in uncertain times.

In relation to this particular Commission the Director of Finance noted that the Revenues and Benefits division were under financial pressure as the Department for Work and Pensions continued to cut the grant provided to the Council to administer housing benefit. The case load however has not significantly reduced. The service was able to integrate roles within staff to meet the demand and reduce cost. Channel shifting the service online as much as possible was also a means of meeting the service demands.

The Director of Neighbourhood Services noted that the area currently delivers 28 services such as Community Safety, Waste Management, 2 Household Waste Recycle Centres and others. The funding received through the General Revenue Fund Budget, payed for and delivered a lot in the city. The service was living within its means and had still been able to achieve an effective delivery of services. The past year had seen a food-outlets with a hygiene rating of 5 double, a 90% satisfaction levels of neighbourhood buildings and a 14.9 reduction in fly tipping cases. Although nationally fly tipping cases were on a rise, the city were able to reduce the number of local fly tipping cases as a result of a robust strategy and the great facilities the service had on offer, including the weekly waste collection service and a further recruitment for two additional City Wardens.

During discussions, members were concerned with what impact the proposed budget would have on the delivery of service and how the increase in Council Tax would benefit the service. It was suggested that channel shifting was part of the strategy to reduce cost and still maintain the level of service. The increase in Council Tax which was slightly under 4% was a means of recuperating the 50% loss in government funding. It was noted that business rates were set by a national multiplier and 50% of these rates were retained locally.

Members of the commission were assured that there were not specific areas that would see improvements rather it was a transformation process and all areas would see continuous improvements to existing services. 

AGREED:

            1). That the report be noted;

2). That the Director of Finance be requested to consider the comments made by Members of the Commission;

3).That the minute extract be shared with the Overview Select Committee and Council; and

4). That the Information on the Council’s website regarding Council Tax increase for properties that have added extensions and planning advice to inform of possible increases to Council Tax to be shared with Councillor Ali.