Agenda item

Revenue Budget 2015-16

Decision:

That the Revenue Budget 2015/16 be approved by Council on 19th February 2015, noting that other organisations have yet to set their Council Tax precepts.

Council Tax Resolution – In relation to the Council Tax for 2015/16

(a) That in pursuance of the powers conferred on the Council as the billing authority for its area by the Local Government Finance Acts (the Acts), the Council Tax for the Slough area for the year ending 31 March 2016 be as specified below and that the Council Tax be levied accordingly.

(b) That it be noted that at its meeting on 15 December 2014 Cabinet calculated the following Tax Base amounts for the financial year 2015/16 in accordance with Regulations made under sections 31B (3) and 34(4) of the Act:

(i) 38,462.6 being the amount calculated by the Council, in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 2012 (the Regulations) as the Council Tax Base for the whole of the Slough area for the year 2015/16; and

(ii) The sums below being the amounts of Council Tax Base for the Parishes within Slough for 2015/16:

a) Parish of Britwell 597.0

b) Parish of Coln. with Poyle 1,781.1

c) Parish of Wexham 1,270.3

(i) £437,571,351 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in section 31A (2)(a) to (f) of the Act.

(Gross Expenditure);

(ii) £ 392,237,445 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in section 31A (3) (a) to (d) of the Act.

(Gross Income);

(iii) £45,333,906 being the amount by which the aggregate at paragraph c (i) above exceeds the aggregate at paragraph c (ii) above calculated by the Council as its council tax requirement for the year as set out in section 31A(4) of the Act. (Council Tax Requirement);

(iv) £1,178.64 being the amount at paragraph c(iii) above divided by the amount at paragraph b(i) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with section 31B(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year, including the requirements for Parish precepts.

(v) That for the year 2015/16 the Council determines in accordance with section 34 (1) of the Act, Total Special Items of £207,046 representing the total of Parish Precepts for that year.

(vi) £1,173.27 being the amount at paragraph c (iv) above less the result given by dividing the amount at paragraph c (v) above by the relevant amounts at paragraph b (i) 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 item relates.

(vii) Valuation Bands

Band	Slough Area	Parish of Britwell	Parish of Colnbrook with Poyle	Parish of Wexham Court
	£	£	£	£
A	782.18	44.06	31.80	24.48
B	912.54	51.41	37.10	28.56
C	1,042.91	58.75	42.40	32.64
D	1,173.27	66.10	47.70	36.72
E	1,434.00	80.79	58.30	44.89
F	1,694.72	95.47	68.90	53.05
G	1,955.45	110.16	79.50	61.21
H	2,346.54	132.19	95.40	73.45

Being the amounts given by multiplying the amounts at paragraph c (iv) and c (vi) 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 amount to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands.

(viii) That it be noted that for the year 2015/16 the Thames Valley Police Authority precept has been provisionally stated in line with previous year increases, in accordance with section 40 of the Act, for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

Band	Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Thames Valley
	£
A	109.14
B	127.32
C	145.52
D	163.70
E	200.08
F	236.46
G	272.84
H	327.41

These precepts have not been formally proposed or agreed by the Thames Valley Police Authority and may be revised when agreed.

(ix) That it be noted that for the year 2015/16 the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority has provisionally stated the following amount in precept issued to the Council, in accordance with section 40 of the Act, for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

Band	Royal Berkshire Fire Authority
	£
A	40.44
B	47.18
C	53.92
D	60.66
E	74.14
F	87.62
G	101.10
H	121.32

These precepts have not been formally proposed or agreed by the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority and may be revised when agreed.

(x) Note that arising from these recommendations, and assuming the major precepts are agreed, the overall Council Tax for Slough Borough Council including the precepting authorities will be as follows:

Band	Slough	Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Thames Valley	Royal Berkshire Fire Authority	TOTAL
	£	£	£	£
A	782.18	109.14	40.44	931.76
B	912.54	127.32	47.18	1,087.04
C	1,042.91	145.52	53.92	1,242.35
D	1,173.27	163.70	60.66	1,397.63
E	1,434.00	200.08	74.14	1,708.22
F	1,694.72	236.46	87.62	2,018.80
G	1,955.45	272.84	101.10	2.329.39
H	2,346.54	327.41	121.32	2,795.27

(xi) That the Section 151 Officer be and is hereby authorised to give due notice of the said Council Tax in the manner provided by Section 38(2) of the 2012 Act.

(xii) That the Section 151 Officer be and is hereby authorised when necessary to apply for a summons against any Council Tax payer or non-domestic ratepayer on whom an account for the said tax or rate and arrears has been duly served and who has failed to pay the amounts due to take all subsequent necessary action to recover them promptly.

(xiii) That the Section 151 Officer be authorised to collect (and disperse from the relevant accounts) the Council Tax and National Non-Domestic Rate and that whenever the office of the Section 151 Officer is vacant or the holder thereof is for any reason unable to act, the Chief Executive or such other authorised post-holder be authorised to act as before said in his or her stead.

(xiv) The above figures assume a council tax freeze for the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority. If this is not the case this report requests the Section 151 or nominated officer be authorised to adjust the council tax charges in line with final figures following consultation with the leader and leader of the opposition

HRA Rents and Service Charges –

(e) That the proposed increase in Housing Revenue Account rents and service charges for 2015/16 be as follows:

(i) Council house dwelling rents for 2015/16 increase by an average of £2.24 per week (2.2% average increase) with effect from Monday 6th April 2015. This is in line with current government guidelines on rent increases, linked to September CPI+1%.

(ii) Garage rents, heating, utility and ancillary charges increase by

2.3% with effect from Monday 6th April 2015. This is based upon the September RPI figure.

(iii) Service charges increase by 2.2% with effect from Monday 6th April 2015. This is based upon the CPI+1% uplift used for rent setting.

(iv) ‘Other committee’ property rents increase by an average of 2.2% from Monday 6th April 2015 in line with the average increase of all housing properties.

Fees and Charges –

(f) That the proposed increase in Fees and charges outlined in Appendix Fi for 2015/16 be as follows:

(i) Sports Pitch fees and Allotment fees increase by the benchmark plus 4.2%

(ii) The sports pitch fees will be implemented from the 1st April 2015 but the allotments will take effect from the 1st December 2017 as the allotment holders are normally given a year’s notice and the fees for 2016 have already been set.

Minutes:

The Assistant Director, Finance & Audit introduced a report setting out the draft Revenue Budget 2015/16 which the Cabinet were requested to recommend to Council on 19^th February 2015.

The budget had been developed in the context of increased demand for services and the continuation of significant reductions in Government funding with the Revenue Support Grant falling by nearly a half over the past two years to £23.8m. The Council had generally managed to deliver key outcomes whilst protecting frontline services wherever possible, and it was proposed to freeze Council Tax for the third time in the past four years. The total budgeted income for 2015-16 was £107.5m, a reduction from £112.1m in 2014-15, and the savings requirement was £9.8m after adjustments such as inflation and directorate pressures had been taken into account. A majority of the proposed savings had previously been approved by Cabinet and a full list was detailed in Appendix A to the report.

The Assistant Director provided an update on the final Local Government Finance Settlement which had confirmed that the Council would receive an additional un-ringfenced £197k for Local Welfare Provision but £243k less for Discretionary Housing Payments. It was proposed to hold the £197k against potential pressures around from the various Government welfare reforms. The Cabinet were also informed that some adjustments may be made to the figures prior to the full Council meeting once the parish, fire and police precepts were confirmed. Commissioners discussed a number of issues including the positive impact the surplus in the Collection Fund could have in future years and the work being done to increase Council Tax and Business Rates income.

Consideration was also given to the following recommendation from Overview & Scrutiny in relation to the revenue budget:

“The Cabinet is requested to resolve that Officers be authorised to investigate the feasibility of implementing a Residents Card for differential fee rates for Residents and Non Residents, on a range of services, including sport pitch fees”.

The Cabinet welcomed the recommendation and noted that lower fees and charges of up to 20% for Slough residents already existed in some service areas. The recommendation to authorise officers to investigate the feasibility of extending differential charging was agreed. This may not require a full Residents Card system and the most efficient and practical approach would be explored by Officers.

The Cabinet thanked Officers for the work done in preparing the budget and agreed to recommend the Revenue Budget 2015-16 to full Council on 19^th February 2015.

Resolved –

That Officers be authorised to investigate the feasibility of implementing differential fee rates for Residents and Non Residents, on a range of services, including sport pitch hire.

Recommended –