The Strategic Director Corporate Services will submit a report (Document “BG”) which provides Members with details of the Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2017-18 and 2018-19.

 

Recommended –

 

RECOMMENDATIONS – SUBJECT TO ENDORSEMENT BY COUNCIL

8.1     REVENUE ESTIMATES 2017/18

 

              (a)     That the Base Revenue Forecast of £392.620m for 2017/18 as set out in this report “BG” (Revenue Estimates) be approved.

 

(b)      That Executive Document “BG” and the consequent net investment of £19.820m in 2017/18 be approved.

 

(c)  That Executive Document “BG” and the service savings and additional income of £37.816m in 2017/18 be approved.

 

(d)     That it be noted that within the revenue budget there is a contribution of     £16.262m from revenue reserves in 2017/18.

 

(e)  That Executive Document “BG” and the service savings proposals for 2018/19 be approved, requiring the Chief Executive, Strategic Directors and Directors to take necessary action during 2017/18 to ensure those savings are fully achievable for 2018/19.

 

(f)   That the comments of the Strategic Director Corporate Services set out in Executive Document “BJ” on the robustness of the estimates and the adequacy of reserves taking account of the decisions made at 8.1(a) to (e) above be noted.

8.2   PROPOSED COUNCIL TAX 2017/18

 

8.2.1 That it be noted that the projected council tax base and expenditure forecasts outlined in this report together with the 2017/18 resources and the budget variations approved at 8.1(b) and 8.1(c) above produce a proposed Band D council tax of £1,257.86 for 2017-18. This includes a social care precept of 3.0% which is to be ring fenced for expenditure on adult social care.

8.3   PAYMENT DATES FOR COUNCIL TAX AND NATIONAL NON-DOMESTIC RATES

 

8.3.1 That the first instalment date for payment of National Non-Domestic Rates and Council Tax shall be specified by the Strategic Director Corporate Services.

8.4   DELEGATION TO OFFICERS

 

8.4.1 That for the avoidance of doubt and without prejudice to any of the powers contained in Article 14 of Part 2 of the Council's Constitution on the Function of Officers, the Strategic Director Corporate Services shall have full delegated powers to act on behalf of the Council on all matters relating to the Council Tax, Non-Domestic Rates and Accounts Receivable Debtors including (without prejudice to the generality of the delegation) assessments, determinations, recovery, enforcement and, in accordance with the statutory scheme, full delegated powers to act on behalf of the Council with regard to all aspects of the granting of Discretionary and Hardship Rate Relief to qualifying ratepayers.

 

8.5     PREPARATION OF ACCOUNTS

 

           (a)         That in preparing the Final Accounts for 2016/17, the Strategic Director Corporate Services be empowered to take appropriate steps to secure the best advantage for the Council's financial position.

           (b)         That the Strategic Director Corporate Services be empowered to deal with items which involve the transfer of net spending between the financial years 2016/17 and 2017/18 in a manner which secures the best advantage for the Council's financial position.

           (c)         That the Strategic Director Corporate Services report any action taken in pursuance of 8.5(a) and 8.5 (b) above when reporting on the Final Accounts for 2016/17.

 

9.0       RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL

          COUNCIL TAX REQUIREMENT 2017/18

 

           (a)    That the council tax base figures for 2017/18 calculated by the Council at its meeting on 10th January 2017 in respect of the whole of the Council’s area and individual parish and town council areas be noted.

 

(b)     That the only special items for 2017/18 under Section 35 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 are local parish and town council precepts and no expenses are to be treated as special expenses under Section 35(1) (b) of that Act.

 

(c)     That the Council Tax Requirement, excluding parish and town council precepts, be calculated as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(d)  That the precepts of parish and town councils be noted and the resulting basic council tax amounts for particular areas of the Council be calculated as follows:

 

 

 

          (e)     That the council tax amounts for dwellings in different valuation bands in respect of the Council’s budget requirement, taking into account parish and town council precepts applicable to only part of the Council’s area, be calculated as follows, which includes the 3% social care precept:

 

 

(f)     That it be noted that for the year 2017/18 the Police Crime and Commissioner has issued the following precept. As the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority (WYFRA) will not be meeting to set its precept until 17^th February (after this report has been published) the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority precept shown in the table below is based on an estimate of 1.99%. Executive will be provided with the precept issued by WYFRA at the meeting of Executive on 21 February 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

            (g)  That having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at (e) and (f) above, the Council set the following amounts of council tax for 2017/18 in each of the categories of dwellings shown below which includes the 3% social care precept:

 

 

 (h)    That Council notes the movement in Band D equivalent charges for 2017/18 over 2016/17 as set out in the table below.

 

 

 

* The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority will be setting their precept on Friday 17^th February. The amount shown in the above table is estimated precept based on a 1.99% increase.

 

(Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee)

 

 

The Strategic Director Corporate Services submitted a report (Document “BG”) which provided Members with details of the Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2017-18 and 2018-19.

 

The Strategic Director explained that the proposed revenue budget was influenced by a number of external factors such as inflation and changes in grant funding.  The summary position was set out which included on-going and non recurrent investments; previously agreed savings; service and non service savings; schedule of amendments to previous budget decisions and the use of reserves.

 

The Strategic Director reported that the Government had recently released details of the final settlement to Local Government, with additional finalisation expected in due course.  However these announcements did not materially change the overall figures the budget was predicated on.

 

In relation to Council Tax, a 1.99% increase was being proposed, together with an additional 3% being added to bills in the form of a social care precept, resulting in an overall 4.99% increase in Council Tax .

 

The Leader stated that in the context of late announcements by Government on the settlement, the consultation timetable on the budget would have been revised.  However this Council had done the right thing and had been consulting on the budget since early December 2016.

 

The resolution to this item, was presented and agreed in light of the Labour Group’s amended budget recommendation to Council (see Minute  ).  This was followed by agreement to the Schools Budget and Capital Investment Plan proposals.