Agenda item

Revenue and Capital Budget Plan 2020/21 – 2022/23 and Council Tax 2020/21

Report of the Chief Executive and the Head of Corporate Resources

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 115 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 13 February 2020 the Council considered the report of the Chief Executive and the Head of Corporate Resources that provided:

· an assessment of the Council’s current financial position and approach to the 2020/21 Budget Plan and preparation for the two-year budget period 2021/22 to 2022/23;

· an update on the Government’s announcement of resources that were available to the Council for 2020/21;

· the Council’s current financial position and the assumptions built into the Medium-Term Financial Plan;

· the proposed Budget for 2020/21; and

· the proposed Capital Programme for 2020/21.

The report set out the financial strategy of the Council and the national and local financial context within which it was operating and indicated that the Council had a statutory requirement to remain financially sustainable and to balance its budget every year.

The report also indicated that the Council’s Framework for Change Programme was a comprehensive and ambitious programme that sought to support the delivery of the Council’s core purpose; and that as would be expected with a programme of this size and complexity that spanned a number of financial years, the detailed proposals had been and would continue to be the subject of change as they were developed and ultimately implemented.

The Council also considered a copy of an update note prepared by the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services which provided details of the Police, Fire, Mayoral and Parish Precepts and the draft Council Tax resolution which had been circulated to Members of the Council and published in a supplementary agenda prior to the start of the meeting.

It was moved by Councillor Maher, seconded by Councillor Fairclough

That:

(1)	the update of the Medium-Term Financial Plan for the period 2020/21 to 2022/23 be noted;
(2)	the Revenue Budget for 2020/21 be approved and officers be authorised to undertake all of the necessary actions to implement the budget changes and proposals as detailed within the report;
(3)	the Framework for Change 2020 Programme (as described in Section 3) be approved and the commencement of all appropriate activity as detailed, including for example, consultation with employees and engagement with partners and contractual changes as the programme develops be agreed;
(4)	the current levels of trade union facility time and associated arrangements for the whole period of the budget plan for 2020/21 – 2022/23 be approved;
(5)	it be noted that officers will comply with agreed HR policies and procedures including relevant consultation with Trade Unions and reports to the Cabinet Member - Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services as required;
(6)	the creation and funding of the Cost of Change budget, with a value of £3.0m (paragraph 3.49), and the increase in the Redundancy Reserve of £2.0m and the associated funding (paragraph 3.51) be approved;
(7)	access to funding from the Cost of Change budget be delegated to the Chief Executive and s151 officer as per current arrangements;
(8)	the Council making an upfront payment to the Merseyside Pension Fund to cover a proportion of the total contributions due for the three-year valuation period 2020/21 – 2022/23 be approved, and that this payment be funded from borrowing, to be fully repaid within the three-year period, which will generate a net saving to the Council;
(9)	the Schools’ Forum decisions on the Dedicated Schools Grant and Individual School Budgets (Section 10) be noted;
(10)	the allocation of specific grants as detailed in the report (Section 11) be approved;
(11)	the Fees and Charges as proposed in the draft Council budget (Appendix C) be approved;
(12)	Subject to the recommendations above, the overall Council Tax resolution for 2020/21 including Police, Fire, Mayoral and Parish Precepts be approved;
(13)	the Capital schemes as detailed in Appendix D Approve for inclusion within the Capital Programme be approved.

Councillors Maher, Pugh, Brough and McCanneach gave a statement expressing the views of their political groups on the content of the report and the budget proposals.

Following debate on the report, an amendment was moved by Councillor Shaw, seconded by Councillor Pugh

That the budget proposals set out in the report be amended by the addition of the following recommendation (3):

(3)

recognising (1) that in excess of 95% of the Borough's 50,000+ gullies are now cleaned only once a year, and (2) the importance of fully functioning street drainage gullies to reducing the risk of flooding, the Council's revenue budget be varied by:

Investing an additional £0.018m in Gully Cleansing.

This extra provision to be contained within the existing Highways revenue budget.

The net impact of the proposed amendment will still ensure that the Council’s Revenue Budget for 2020/21 remains balanced.

This would allow an extra 5000 gullies (in flooding "hot spots" etc) to be cleaned more than once a year, a quadrupling from the current c.1600;

and that recommendations (3) to (13) contained in the report be renumbered (4) to (14) accordingly

Following debate and in accordance with Rule 96 of Chapter 4 in the Constitution, the voting on the Amendment was recorded and the Members of the Council present at the time, voted as follows:

FOR THE AMENDMENT:

Councillors Brodie-Browne, Brough, Dawson, Dodd, Dutton, Evans, Keith, John Lewis, McCann, Morris, O’Hanlon, Pugh, Pullin, Sathiy, Shaw, Lynne Thompson and Sir Ron Watson.

AGAINST THE AMENDMENT:

Councillors Atkinson, Blackburne, Bradshaw, Brennan, Byrom, Carr, Carragher, Cluskey, Cummins, Doyle, Fairclough, Friel, Gannon, Grace, Halsall, Hardy, Howard, Irving, John Kelly, John Joseph Kelly, Killen, Lappin, Maher, Marshall, McGinnity, McKinley, Moncur, Murphy, Myers, Brenda O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, Robinson, Roche, Roscoe, John Sayers, Yvonne Sayers, Tweed, Viedman, Waterfield and The Mayor

The Mayor declared that the Amendment was lost by 17 votes to 40.

Following further debate and in accordancewith Rule 96 of Chapter 4 in the Constitution, the voting on the Motion was recorded and the Members of the Council present at the time, voted as follows:

FOR THE MOTION

Councillors Atkinson, Blackburne, Bradshaw, Brennan, Byrom, Carr, Carragher, Cluskey, Cummins, Doyle, Fairclough, Friel, Gannon, Grace, Halsall, Hardy, Howard, Irving, John Kelly, John Joseph Kelly, Killen, Lappin, Maher, Marshall, McCann, McGinnity, McKinley, Moncur, Murphy, Myers, Brenda O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, O’Hanlon, Robinson, Roche, Roscoe, John Sayers, Yvonne Sayers, Tweed, Viedman, Waterfield, Webster and The Mayor

AGAINST THE MOTION

Councillors Brodie-Browne, Brough, Dawson, Dodd, Dutton, Evans, Keith, Lewis, Morris, Pugh, Pullin, Sathiy, Shaw, Lynne Thompson and Sir Ron Watson.

The Mayor declared that the Motion was carried by 43 votes to 15 and it was

RESOLVED: That

(1)

the update of the Medium-Term Financial Plan for the period 2020/21 to 2022/23 be noted;

(2)

the Revenue Budget for 2020/21 be approved and officers be authorised to undertake all of the necessary actions to implement the budget changes and proposals as detailed within the report;

(3)

the Framework for Change 2020 Programme (as described in Section 3) be approved and the commencement of all appropriate activity as detailed, including for example, consultation with employees and engagement with partners and contractual changes as the programme develops be agreed;

(4)

the current levels of trade union facility time and associated arrangements for the whole period of the budget plan for 2020/21 – 2022/23 be approved;

(5)

it be noted that officers will comply with agreed HR policies and procedures including relevant consultation with Trade Unions and reports to the Cabinet Member - Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services as required;

(6)

the creation and funding of the Cost of Change budget, with a value of £3.0m (paragraph 3.49), and the increase in the Redundancy Reserve of £2.0m and the associated funding (paragraph 3.51) be approved;

(7)

access to funding from the Cost of Change budget be delegated to the Chief Executive and s151 officer as per current arrangements;

(8)

the Council making an upfront payment to the Merseyside Pension Fund to cover a proportion of the total contributions due for the three-year valuation period 2020/21 – 2022/23 be approved, and that this payment be funded from borrowing, to be fully repaid within the three-year period, which will generate a net saving to the Council;

(9)

the Schools’ Forum decisions on the Dedicated Schools Grant and Individual School Budgets (Section 10) be noted;

(10)

the allocation of specific grants as detailed in the report (Section 11) be approved;

(11)

the Fees and Charges as proposed in the draft Council budget (Appendix C) be approved;

(12)

It be noted that at its meeting on 23 January 2020, the Council calculated the following amounts for the year 2020/2021 in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 1992 (as amended):

(a)

84,904.40 Band D equivalent properties, for the whole area [item T in the formula in Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended]; and

(b)

for dwellings in those parts of its area to which a Parish precept relates as shown in the table below:

Parish	Council Tax Base
	(Band D Equivalent Properties)
Aintree Village	2,077.30
Formby	9,205.70
Hightown	873.10
Ince Blundell	170.50
Little Altcar	333.30
Lydiate	2,072.00
Maghull	6,766.50
Melling	1,014.70
Sefton	237.20
Thornton	788.80

(13)

the Council calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council's own purposes for 2020/2021 (excluding Parish Precepts) is £138,651,433;

(14)

the following amounts be calculated by the Council for the year 2020/2021 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992:

(a)

£614,048,577

Being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act taking into account all precepts issued to it by Parish Councils.

(b)

-£474,218,208

Being the aggregate amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.

(c)

£139,830,369

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 (item R in the formula in Section 31B of the Act).

(d)

£1,646.92

Being the amount at 3(c) above (item R), divided by the amount at 1(a) above (item T), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year (including Parish Precepts).

(e)

£1,178,936

Being the aggregate amount of all special items (Parish Precepts) referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act.

(f)

£1,633.03

Being the amount at 3(d) above, less the amount given by dividing the amount at 3(e) above by the amount at 1(a) above (item T), 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.

(g)

The amounts below, being the amounts given by adding to the amount at 3(f) above the amounts of thespecial items relating to dwellings in those parts of the Council's area mentioned above divided in eachcase by the amount at 1(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 34(3) of the Actas basic amounts of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which specialitems relate.

Parish

Aintree Village

Formby

Hightown

Ince Blundell

Little Altcar

Lydiate

Maghull

Melling

Sefton

Thornton

1,706.78

1,642.99

1,643.34

1,647.11

1,642.99

1,713.15

1,736.67

1,668.56

1,675.19

1,640.64

(h)

The amounts below being the amounts given by multiplying the amounts at 3(f) and 3(g) above by thenumber which, in the proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in aparticular valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listedin valuation Band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 36(1) of the Act, as theamounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in differentvaluation bands.

Property Valuation Band
Proportion of Band D	A 6/9	B 7/9	C 8/9	D 9/9	E 11/9	F 13/9	G 15/9	H 18/9
	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
Parish

Aintree Village	1,137.85	1,327.50	1,517.14	1,706.78	2,086.06	2,465.35	2,844.63	3,413.56

Formby	1,095.33	1,277.88	1,460.44	1,642.99	2,008.10	2,373.21	2,738.32	3,285.98

Hightown	1,095.56	1,278.15	1,460.75	1,643.34	2,008.53	2,373.71	2,738.90	3,286.68

Ince Blundell	1,098.07	1,281.09	1,464.10	1,647.11	2,013.13	2,379.16	2,745.18	3,294.22

Little Altcar	1,095.33	1,277.88	1,460.44	1,642.99	2,008.10	2,373.21	2,738.32	3,285.98

Lydiate	1,142.10	1,332.45	1,522.80	1,713.15	2,093.85	2,474.55	2,855.25	3,426.30

Maghull	1,157.78	1,350.74	1,543.71	1,736.67	2,122.60	2,508.52	2,894.45	3,473.34

Melling	1,112.37	1,297.77	1,483.16	1,668.56	2,039.35	2,410.14	2,780.93	3,337.12

Sefton	1,116.79	1,302.93	1,489.06	1,675.19	2,047.45	2,419.72	2,791.98	3,350.38

Thornton	1,093.76	1,276.05	1,458.35	1,640.64	2,005.23	2,369.81	2,734.40	3,281.28

All Other Parts of the Council's Area	1,088.69	1,270.13	1,451.58	1,633.03	1,995.93	2,358.82	2,721.72	3,266.06

(15)

it be noted that for the year 2020/2021 the major precepting authorities have stated the following amounts in precepts issued to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

			Property Valuation Band
Proportion of	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
Band D	6/9	7/9	8/9	9/9	11/9	13/9	15/9	18/9
	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
Precepting Authority
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority	53.60	62.53	71.47	80.40	98.27	116.13	134.00	160.80

Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner	141.31	164.87	188.42	211.97	259.07	306.18	353.28	423.94

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority	12.67	14.78	16.89	19.00	23.22	27.44	31.67	38.00

(16) The Council, in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the aggregate amounts shown in the table below as the amounts of Council Tax for 2020/2021 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings.

			Property Valuation Band
Proportion of	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
Band D	6/9	7/9	8/9	9/9	11/9	13/9	15/9	18/9
	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
Parish
Aintree Village	1,345.43	1,569.68	1,793.92	2,018.15	2,466.62	2,915.10	3,363.58	4,036.30
Formby	1,302.91	1,520.06	1,737.22	1,954.36	2,388.66	2,822.96	3,257.27	3,908.72
Hightown	1,303.14	1,520.33	1,737.53	1,954.71	2,389.09	2,823.46	3,257.85	3,909.42
Ince Blundell	1,305.65	1,523.27	1,740.88	1,958.48	2,393.69	2,828.91	3,264.13	3,916.96
Little Altcar	1,302.91	1,520.06	1,737.22	1,954.36	2,388.66	2,822.96	3,257.27	3,908.72
Lydiate	1,349.68	1,574.63	1,799.58	2,024.52	2,474.41	2,924.30	3,374.20	4,049.04
Maghull	1,365.36	1,592.92	1,820.49	2,048.04	2,503.16	2,958.27	3,413.40	4,096.08
Melling	1,319.95	1,539.95	1,759.94	1,979.93	2,419.91	2,859.89	3,299.88	3,959.86
Sefton	1,324.37	1,545.11	1,765.84	1,986.56	2,428.01	2,869.47	3,310.93	3,973.12
Thornton	1,301.34	1,518.23	1,735.13	1,952.01	2,385.79	2,819.56	3,253.35	3,904.02
All Other Parts of the Council's Area	1,296.27	1,512.31	1,728.36	1,944.40	2,376.49	2,808.57	3,240.67	3,888.80

(17)		The Council's basic amount of Council Tax for 2020/2021 is not deemed to be excessive in accordance with the principles approved under Section 52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992; and
(18)		the Capital schemes as detailed in Appendix D be approved for inclusion within the Capital Programme.

Supporting documents: