Agenda item

(1)          The Chairman reminded Members that any Member of a Local Authority who was liable to pay Council Tax, and who had any unpaid Council Tax overdue for at least two months, even if there was an arrangement to pay off the arrears, must declare the fact that they were in arrears and must not vote on any matter related to KCC’s Budget or Council Tax. The Chairman drew Members attention to the Section 151 Officer’s assurance, set out on page 40 of the report, that the budget estimates were as robust as possible in the circumstances and the level of reserves was adequate, as required by the requirements of the Local Government Act 2003

(2)          Mr Oakford moved, and Mr Gough seconded the following motion:

The County Council is asked to agree:

(a)          The amended net revenue budget requirement for 2020-21 of £1,099.9m, up from £1,063.7m in the Original Budget (section 3)

(b)          The individual proposed net spending changes of £36.3m across the Council as summarised in the report and detailed in Appendix A

(c)          Covid-19 additional response spending, income losses, underspends and provisions for potential recovery costs of £72.4m to be held as an unallocated central provision pending confirmation of the full impact of the pandemic

(d)          Revised directorate budgets, financing items and unallocated as per revised revenue budgets (Appendix B of the report) and to delegate:

(e)          Continued responsibility to cabinet members and corporate directors to manage the budget within the parameters set out in the constitution and Financial Regulations.

(f)           Authority to the Corporate Director for Finance (after consultation with the Leader, Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate & Traded Services and the political group leaders) to resolve any minor technical issues for the final budget publication which do not materially alter the approved budget or change the net budget requirement. This includes approving the distribution of any unallocated amounts within the approved budget; and to note:

(g)          The progress on the review of reserves being conducted by the Council’s Corporate Director of Finance.

(h)          The Corporate Director of Finance’s opinion on the robustness of the budget estimates and the level of reserves held by the Council (section 6).

(i)           The outcome of the public consultation (Appendix D)

(j)           The financial outlook for later years in the absence of a multi-year settlement from government, significant potential spending growth and impact of recession on future council tax and business rate collection funds and tax base estimates (section 5).

(3)          The leaders of the opposition groups were given the opportunity to respond to the budget amendments as set out in paragraph (2).

(4)          Mr Bird, leader of the opposition asked for it to be noted in the minutes that the Liberal Democrat Group did not disagree with the proposed budget amendments and believed that the proposed reduction in members’ allowances was appropriate in the current situation.  He stated his group would not be supporting the proposed recommendations as they did not believe that the County Council should be put in this position by the Government

(5)          Mr Whybrow stated that for the reasons set out in his response to the budget proposal he would not be voting for the proposed budget reductions, but he supported the reduction in Members Allowances

(6)          Following the debate, the Chairman put the motion set out in paragraph (3) above to the vote and the voting was as follows:

For (59)

Mrs Allen, Mr Angell, Mr Balfour, Mr Barrington-King, Mr Bartlett, Mrs Bell, Mrs Beresford, Mrs Binks, Mr Bond, Mr Booth, Mr Bowles, Mr Brazier, Mr Butler, Ms Carey, Mr Carter, Mrs Chandler, Mr Chard, Mr Collor, Mr Cook, Mr Cooke, Mr Cooper, Mrs Crabtree, Mr Dance, Miss Dawson, Mrs Game, Mr Gibbens, Mr Gough, Mrs Hamilton, Mr Harman, Mr Hill, Mr Hills, Mrs Hohler, Mr Holden, Mr Homewood, Mr Hotson, Mrs Hurst, Mr Kite, Mr Lake, Mr Long, Mr Love, Mr Lymer, Mr Marsh, Mr McInroy, Mr Murphy,  Mr Northey,  Mr Oakford, Mr Ozog, Mr Pascoe, Mr Payne, Mrs Prendergast, Mr Pugh, Miss Rankin, Mr Rayner,  Mr Ridgers, Mr Simkins, Mr Sweetland, Mr Thomas, Mr Whiting,  Mr Wright.

Against (9)

Mr Bird, Mr Chittenden, Mr Clinch, Mr Daley, Mrs Dean, Mr Hook, Mr Koowaree, Ida Linfield, Mr Whybrow.

Abstain (5)

Mr Burden, Ms Constantine, Mr Farrell, Mr Lewis and Dr Sullivan.

Motion carried

(7)          RESOLVED that:

(a)       the amended net revenue budget requirement for 2020-21 of £1,099.9m, up from £1,063.7m in the Original Budget (section 3 of the report) be approved;

(b)       the individual proposed net spending changes of £36.3m across the Council as summarised in the report and detailed in Appendix A be approved

(c)        Covid-19 additional response spending, income losses, underspends and provisions for potential recovery costs of £72.4m to be held as an unallocated central provision pending confirmation of the full impact of the pandemic be approved;

(d)       revised directorate budgets, financing items and unallocated as per revised revenue budgets (appendix B to the report) be approved;

(e)       continued responsibility be delegated to the cabinet members and corporate directors to manage the budget within the parameters set out in the constitution and Financial Regulations;

(f)        delegated authority be given to the Corporate Director, Finance (after consultation with the Leader, Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate & Traded; Services and the political group leaders) to resolve any minor technical issues for the final budget publication which do not materially alter the approved budget or change the net budget requirement. This includes approving the distribution of any unallocated amounts within the approved budget;

(g)       the progress on the review of reserves being conducted by the Council’s Corporate Director of Finance be noted;

(h)       the Corporate Director of Finance’s opinion on the robustness of the budget estimates and the level of reserves held by the Council (section 6 of the report) be noted;

(i)         the outcome of the public consultation (Appendix D to the report) be noted;

(j)         the financial outlook for later years in the absence of a multi-year settlement from government, significant potential spending growth and impact of recession on future council tax and business rate collection funds and tax base estimates (section 5 of the report) be noted.