Agenda and minutes

The General Counsel reported apologies from Mr Chittenden, Mr Harrison, Mrs Howes, Mr McKenna, Mrs Waters and Mr Wickham.

None.

(1)       The Chairman reminded all Members that any Member of a Local Authority who was liable to pay Council Tax, and who had any unpaid Council Tax amount overdue for at least two months, even if there was an arrangement to pay off the arrears, must declare the fact that they are in arrears and must not cast their vote on anything related to KCC’s Budget or Council Tax.

(2)          The Chairman stated that all Members would have received a letter from the Head of Democratic Services, dated 1 February, setting out the process and order of the budget debate at today’s meeting.  

(3)           The Chairman moved and the Vice-Chairman seconded that:

(a)        Procedure Rule 1.12(2) be suspended in order that the meeting be extended to 5.00pm if necessary;

(b)        Procedure Rule 1.28 be suspended in order that the Leader be allowed to speak for a maximum of 12 minutes, the seconder of the original motion to speak for up to 5 minutes, the Leaders of the UKIP, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent Groups to speak for 10, 7, 5 and 3 minutes respectively, with the Leader being given a 5 minute right of reply; and the Cabinet Members to speak for up to 6 minutes each when introducing each directorate debate; and;

(c)        Procedure Rule 1.35 be suspended in order for the mover and seconder of the original motion to be permitted to speak on more than one occasion.

Agreed without a formal vote

(4)          The Chairman then invited Mr Wood, Corporate Director Finance and Procurement, to give a presentation on various issues relevant to the budget.  As part of this presentation Mr Wood as Section 151 officer confirmed that the budget estimates were robust and the level of reserves adequate, as required by the Local Government Act 2003.

(5)          Mr Carter proposed and Mr Simmonds seconded the following motion:

“The County Council is asked to agree the following

(a)Net revenue budget requirement of £906.959m for 2017-18

(b) Capital investment proposals of £635.840m over three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20 together with the necessary funding and subject to approval to spend arrangements (summarised in appendix 2 to this report)

(c) The Treasury Management Strategy as per revised section 5 of the Medium Term Financial Plan (appendix 5 to this report)

(d) Prudential Indicators as set out in revised Appendix B to the Medium Term Financial Plan (appendix 7 to this report)

(e) The Revised Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Statement as set out in Appendix C to the Medium Term Financial Plan including the revised policy regarding debt repayment.

(f) The directorate revenue and capital budget proposals as set out in draft Budget Book published on 10th January as amended by the latest updates included in this report (summarised in appendix 3 to this report)

(g) Delegate responsibility to Cabinet Members and Corporate Directors to manage the budget within the parameters set out in the Constitution and Financial Regulations (delegations to managers as set out in appendix 4 to this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.