Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Lara Knight / Michelle Salmon, Governance Services,  Tel: 024 7683 3237 / 3065, Email:  lara.knight@coventry.gov.uk /  michelle.salmon@coventry.gov.uk

Note: Budget 

Items
No. Item

115.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of pecuniary interests.

116.

2019/20 Council Tax Setting Report pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) which calculated the Council Tax level for 2019/20 and made appropriate recommendations to Council, consistent with the Budget Report 2019/20. 

 

The report indicated that some of the figures and information set out within the report were identified as provisional as the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Fire and Rescue Authority precepts had not been confirmed at the time of publication.  The Cabinet were advised by the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) that confirmation had not yet been received in relation to these precepts and that it was anticipated that information would be available for the Council meeting later in the day.

 

The report incorporated the impact of the Council’s gross expenditure and the level of income it will receive through Business Rates, grants, fees and charges.  This results in a Council Tax requirement, as the amount that its expenditure exceeds all other sources of income.

 

The report includes a calculation of the Band D Council Tax that will be needed to generate this Council Tax requirement, based on the City’s approved Council Tax base.  The 2019/20 Band D Council Tax that is calculated through this process as increased by £46.36 from the 2018/19 level.

 

The Government has legislated that the rise in Coventry City Council’s basic Council Tax must be below 3% in 2019/20 to avoid triggering a referendum.  The recommendations within the Budget Report 2019/20 are based on a proposed increase in Council Tax off 2.9%.

 

It was noted that the recommendations follow the structure of resolutions drawn up by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, to ensure that legal requirements are fully adhered to in setting the tax.  As a consequence the wording of the proposed resolutions is necessarily complex.

 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet recommend that Council:

 

1.  Note the following Council Tax base amounts for the year 2019/20, as approved by Cabinet on 8th January 2019, in accordance with Regulations made under Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (“the Act”):

 

a)  83,400.1 being the amount calculated by the Council as its Council Tax base for the year for the whole Council area;

 

b)  Allesley  337.8

Finham  1,548.4

Keresley  239.0

 

Being the amounts calculated by the Council as 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 2019/20 in accordance with Sections 31A, 31B and 34 to 26 of the Act :

 

(a)  £744,441,666  being the aggregate of the amounts that 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 (Gross Expenditure and reserves required to be raised for estimated future expenditure);

 

(b)  £609,249,683  being the aggregate of the amounts that the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 116.

117.

Budget Report 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 250 KB

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), which set out the proposals for the Council’s final revenue and capital budget for 2019/20.

 

The report followed on from the Pre-Budget report approved by the Cabinet on 27th November 2018, which had been the subject of a period of public consultation.  The proposals within the report now submitted formed the basis of the Council’s final revenue and capital budget for 2019/20, incorporating the following details:

 

·  Gross budgeted spend of £744m (£17m and 2% higher than 2018/19).

·  Net budgets spend of £232m (£3m lower than 2018/19) funding from Council Tax and Business Rates less a tariff payment of £19.6m due to Government.

·  A Council tax Requirement of £135.2m (£7.9m and 6% higher than 2018/19) reflecting a City Council Tax increase of 2.9% detailed in the separate Council Tax Setting report on the Cabinet agenda.

·  A number of new expenditure pressures and savings proposals within Council services.

·  A Capital Strategy including a Capital Programme of £195.3m, including expenditure funding by Prudential Borrowing of £50.3m.

·  An updated Treasury Management Strategy.

·  In the response to the new regulatory requirements and for the first time, a Capital Strategy and a Commercial Investments Strategy.

 

The financial position within the Budget Report was based on the Final 2019/20 Local Government Settlement and incorporated anticipated reductions in funding over the next 3 years.  This position contained significant uncertainty for the period after 2019/20 which would be subject to the combination of a new national Spending Review, a revised allocation model within the Local Government sector and a new national 75% Business Rates retention model.  As a result it was impossible to provide a robust financial forecast at this stage.  Nevertheless, initial assumptions and existing trends were sufficiently firm to indicate that in all likelihood there would be a substantial gap for the period following 2020/21.  The view of the Council’s Director of Finance and Corporate Services was that the Council should be planning for such a position.

 

2019/20 would see the Council continue, along with the other 6 West Midlands councils, to participate in a 100% Business Rates Pilot scheme.  This would enable the Councils to retain 99% of Business Rates income including any growth against an historic baseline which would otherwise have been returned to the Government.  The financial model and assumptions that support the Pilot have been incorporated within the financial position included in this report.

 

The Pre-Budget Report was based on an increase in Council Tax of 2.9% and this position has been maintained for the final proposals in the report submitted.  This was within the Government’s limit of 3%, above which a referendum would need to be held.  This proposed increase would be the equivalent of around 70p a week for a typical Coventry household.

 

The Council’s medium term financial position included the impact of reductions in Government funding that had already been anticipated and savings programmes that have been approved previously.  However, after taking into account a delay in the likely  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.

118.

Authority for Attendance At Conference pdf icon PDF 270 KB

To authorise the attendance of the Lord Mayor and the Principal Private Secretary to the Lord Mayoralty at the 60th Anniversary of Twin City Relationship Between Coventry and Cork, Ireland from 23rd to 25th March 2019 in Cork, Republic of Ireland.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Lord Mayor and the Principal Private Secretary to the Lord Mayoralty be authorised to attend the 60th Anniversary of Twin City Relationship between Coventry and Cork, Ireland, to be held on 23rd to 25th March 2019 in Cork, Republic of Ireland.

119.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

Minutes:

There were no other items of public business.