Agenda item

Report of the Executive Cabinet (enclosed) to include the follow appendices:

Members of the Council considered a report received from the Executive Cabinet which set out their proposals for the Council’s Revenue and Capital Budget for 2009/2010 including the level of Council Tax increase proposed for the forthcoming year.

 

The report set out the Executive’s key objectives in proposing the budget, to protect front line services but also to drive out costs, deliver value for money to residents and to invest in frontline services.

 

The report included a number of appendices with the detail of the proposals as follows;

 

Appendix A       -        Formal Council Tax resolution being proposed.

Appendix B       -        Capital Programme for 2009/10 – 2011/12.

Appendix C       -        Fees and Charges proposals.

Appendix D       -        Treasurary Management Strategy statement and Minimum Revenue Provision Policy Statement for 2009/10.

Appendix E       -        Statutory Report under Section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003.

Appendix F       -        Medium Term Financial Strategy 2009/10 – 2011/12.

Appendix G       -        Budget Consultation undertaken

Appendix H       -        Executive response to the Budget Consultation.

Appendix I         -        Analysis of Significant Movement in Budget between 2008/09 and 2009/10.

Appendix J        -        Schedule of Budget Savings achieved 2009/10.

Appendix K       -        Schedule of Budget Savings Proposals 2009/10.

Appendix L       -        Schedule of Changes proposed since Draft Budget approved by the Executive for consultation.

Appendix M      -        Special Expenses – Parish Precepts.

 

The Executive Member for Resources, Councillor A Cullens, during his reporting on the draft budget referred to a petition, recently received from market traders objecting to the increase in market rents. He reported that the Executive was recommending a change in the draft budget to freeze rents for 2009/10 pending a review of market rents.

 

As part of the consideration of the proposed budget, the Leader of the Labour Group Councillor Dennis Edgerley put forward an alternative budget report which had been circulated as part of the Council agenda papers.  The report proposed that Council Tax remain as at current levels with a number of proposals being put forward to achieve savings, in particular a review of the senior management structure resulting in back office savings.

 

Councillor Dennis Edgerley proposed and Councillor Alistair Bradley seconded the adoption of the Labour Group’s alternative budget .

 

The proposal was put to the vote and the Mayor declared it LOST.

 

The Executive Member for Resources, Councillor Alan Cullens moved and, the Executive Leader, Councillor Peter Goldsworthy seconded, the adoption of the Executive Cabinets budget as amended and it was RESOLVED – That

The budget be approved and the increase in Council Tax levels of 2.9% be agreed as follows;

 

1.         That it be noted that acting under delegated powers the Director of Finance calculated the amount of 35,099.00 as its Council Tax Base for the year 2009/10 in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 made under Section 33(5) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

 

(a)       35,099.00 being the amount calculated by the Council, in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992, as its Council Tax Base for the year.

 

            (b)        being the amounts calculated by the Council, in accordance with Regulation 6 of the Regulations, as the amounts of its Council Tax Base for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.         That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2009/10 in accordance with Sections 32 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992:

 

            (a)        £46,235,070 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 32(2)(a) to (e) of the Act;

           

(b)                 £30,977,620 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 32(3)(a) to (c) of the Act;

 

            (c)        £15,257,450 being the amount by which the aggregate at 2(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 2(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 32(4) of the Act, as its budget requirement for the year;

 

(d)       £8,357,690 being the aggregate of the sums which the Council estimates will be payable for the year into its general fund in respect of redistributed non-domestic rates, Revenue Support Grant, increased by the amount of the sums which the Council estimates will be transferred in the year from its collection fund to its general fund in accordance with Section 97(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988;

 

            (e)        £196.58 being the amount at 2(c) above less the amount at 2(d) above, all divided by the amount at 1(a) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 33(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year;

 

(f)         £1,284,356 being the aggregated amount of all special items referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act;

 

            (g)        £159.99 being the amount at 2(e) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 2(f) above by the amount at 1(a) above, 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 items relates;

 

 

            being the amounts given by adding to the amount at 2(g) above to the amounts of the special item or items relating to dwellings in those parts of the Council’s area mentioned above divided in each case by the amount at 1(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 34(3) of the Act, as the basic amounts of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate;

 

 

(i)        Part of the Council’s Area

being the amounts given by multiplying the amounts at 2(g) and 2(h) above by the number which, in the proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in a particular valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 36(1) of the Act, as the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands.

 

3.         That it be noted that for the year 2009/10 the Lancashire County Council, Lancashire Police Authority, and the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority 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:

 

 

4.         That, having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at 2(i) and 3 above, the Council, in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the following amounts as the amounts of Council Tax for the year 2009/10 for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

 

            (i)         Part of the Council’s Area

 

 

5.         That the Statutory Finance Officer and his officers be authorised to take any action necessary to ensure collection and recovery of the Council Tax and Non-Domestic Rates.

 

FURTHER RESOLVED -

1.         That the Capital Programme be approved as set out in Appendix B.

2.         That the fees and charges increases and car park tariff charges as set out in Appendix C of 3 % on fees and charges along with the new tariff proposed, with the exception of market rents where the increase will be postponed pending a review of the current fee scale to be undertaken with market traders in 2009/10.  The resulting shortfall of £9961 to be met from reserves.

3.         The Treasury Management Strategy and its core principles be approved as set out in Appendix D.

4.         The advice of the Statutory Finance Office in relation to the robustness of the budget and the risk contained in the budget as set out in the Statutory Report in Appendix E be noted.

5.         The Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy as set out in

             Appendix F be approved.

 

EXPLANATION OF COUNCIL TAX SETTING RESOLUTION
RESOLUTION 1
(a)   Before we can calculate the Council Tax to be charged, we first have to calculate the Council Tax base.  The Council Tax base is the amount which a Band D Council Tax of £1.00 would raise.  For 2009/10 we estimate that a £1.00 Council Tax at Band D would raise £35,099.00 in the Chorley area.
(b)   This shows the “base” figure for each Parish in the area.   For example, a £1.00 Band D Council Tax in Adlington would raise £1,956.00.
RESOLUTION 2
(a)   This is the grand total of money which the Council estimates it will spend on all services in 2009/10.  It also includes £594,337 which Parish Councils need to run their services.
(b)   This is the grand total of money which the Council estimates it will receive from various sources in the year.  This includes, for example, car park charges, investment income, government grants in respect of benefits, etc.
(c)   This is the difference between 2(a) and 2(b) and is in effect the Council’s and Parishes net spending on services.
(d)   This is the amount that the Government will contribute towards the cost of our services.  Also included is extra Council Tax resulting from new properties and expected collection rates in previous years.
(e)   The difference between 2(c) and 2(d) is £6,899,760 and this is the amount we need to charge Council Taxpayers.  This is divided by the base (see 1(a) above) and the resulting figure of £196.58 is the average Band D Council Tax for all Borough and Parish services.
(f)     The total of all the amounts needed from Council Taxpayers by the Parish Councils in the area and for Chorley Borough Special Expenses.
(g)   This is the Band D Council Tax for Chorley Borough Council’s own services, ie excluding Parish Council spending and Special Expenses
(h)   This table shows the Band D Council Tax for all parishes including the cost of the Parish Councils and Chorley Borough Council.  For example, Adlington’s Band D Council Tax is £159.99 for Chorley Borough services and £8.95 for Adlington Town Council services and £4.73 for Chorley Borough Special Expenses.
(i)      The rate for each property Band is calculated by reference to the Band D charge.  The following ratios apply:
		Band A Band B Band C Band D Band E Band F Band G Band H	6/9ths of Band D 7/9ths of Band D 8/9ths of Band D 9/9ths of Band D 11/9ths of Band D 13/9ths of Band D 15/9ths of Band D 18/9ths of Band D
For Adlington Band A, for example, the charge is £173.67 x 6 ÷ 9 = £115.78; for Band B it is £173.67 x 7 ÷ 9 = £135.08.
RESOLUTION 3
Lancashire County Council, Lancashire Fire Authority and Lancashire Police Authority are separate bodies who have worked out their own estimates of spending and income for 2007/08 and have set taxes in a similar way to Chorley Borough Council.  This resolution notes their final decision.
RESOLUTION 4
This pulls together the Council Taxes for Lancashire County Council, Lancashire Fire Authority, Lancashire Police Authority, Chorley Borough Council and the Parish Councils.  For example, the Band D for Adlington is £1,486.46 made up as follows:
	Lancashire County Council (as in 3 above) Lancashire Fire Authority (as in 3 above) Lancashire Police Authority (as in 3 above) Chorley Borough Council (as in 2(g) above) Adlington Town Council Special Expenses			£   1,108.30 62.41 142.08 159.99 8.95 4.73
RESOLUTION 5
Formally authorise the necessary staff to take legal action to collect arrears as and when this is necessary.  For the vast majority of taxpayers, this is not needed