Agenda item

A report by the Executive Director Resources and Community Safety had been circulated together with a separate booklet which detailed the Executive's budget and council tax proposals.

 

It was moved, seconded and

 

RESOLVED

 

 

(1)       That there be one debate;

 

(2)       That Councillor M J Hill OBE, Executive Councillor for Policy, Finance, Property, Communications, Procurement and Commissioning, in introducing and moving the budget and in responding to issues raised during the debate be allowed to speak without limit of time;

 

(3)       That proposers of the amendments each be allowed to speak without limit of time;

 

(4)       That Councillors seconding the motions, each be allowed to speak for six minutes; 

 

(5)     That other speakers each be allowed to speak for three minutes; 

 

(6)     That no further substantial amendments be moved (other than the original amendments moved by Group Leaders).

 

It was moved and seconded:

 

(1)      That the responses to consultation on the Council’s budget proposals as contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix C "Budget Consultation"      pages 22 - 31) be noted.

 

(2)       That the Section 151 Officer’s statement on the Robustness of the Budget and the Adequacy of Reserves (Section 10 of the accompanying booklet, pages 16 to 19) be      noted.

 

(3)       That the service revenue budgets for 2014/15 contained in the appended Budget Book (Table 2 "Net service Revenue Budget 2014/15 and change over previous year", page 8) be agreed.

 

(4)       That the capital programme 2014/15and its funding contained in the appended Budget Book (Section 7 "Capital Programme", pages 14 and 15) be agreed.

 

(5)       That the County Council element of the council tax for a Band D property at £1065.69 for 2014/15 contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix B "County Precept 2014/15", page 21)             be agreed.

 

And that together these form the Council’s Budget.

 

(6)       That the Council's Financial Strategy contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix D "Financial Strategy", pages 32 – 39)

 

(7)       That the prudential targets for capital finance be agreed and the prudential indicators contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix K "Prudential Indicators", pages 48 and 49) be noted.

 

(8)       That a minimum revenue provision (MRP) based on the asset life method and made in equal instalments over the estimated life of the assets acquired through borrowing as set out in the appended Budget Book (Section 9 "Minimum Revenue Provision", page 16), be agreed.

 

An amendment was moved and seconded by the Labour Group as follows:-

 

"The Labour Group proposes the following amendments to the circulated report ‘Council Budget 2014/15’.

 

Increase revenue spending by £11.3m in 2014/15 and the capital programme by £3m, the funding for the capital programme being incorporated in the increase in revenue spending.

 

The £11.3m additional revenue spending in 2014/15 to be funded by:

 

·         Using 'windfall' council tax income currently being applied to reduce the amount of reserves applied to balance the budget -  £2.861m

·         Not increasing councillor's allowances and thereby saving £0.245m

·         Increasing the Council Tax by 1.95% and not take the Council Tax Freeze Grant and thereby generating extra income of £2m

·         Using £3.834m in the Financial Volatility Reserve to be replenished by forecast underspending in the current year

·         Using additional business rates and other income of £2.36m

 

Maintaining Library Services at existing levels of provision

Increase of revenue funding of £0.800m

 

Allocate funding of £0.800m to allow much needed library services to be maintained at 2013/14 levels.

 

Adult Social Care

Increase of revenue spending of £3m on Home Care services.

 

This funding would be used to tackle the problems associated with providing a home care service in a sparsely populated rural county like Lincolnshire where travelling time between visits is much greater than in urban areas. It would also enable Home Care visits to be long enough in duration to meet more fully the needs of vulnerable service users

 

Highways & Transportation

Increase of revenue funding of £1.5m

 

i. £0.5m of funding would be used to increase the provision of subsidised bus routes in the County, including increases in evening and weekend services.

 

ii. £1.0m will be used to introduce a 20mph traffic scheme across the county for communities (towns and villages) who want to see slower speeds.

 

Improving Public Health

Allocate revenue funding of £1.5m

 

To set up a programme of targeted interventions to tackle the shocking difference in mortality rates across Lincolnshire.

 

Children and Young People

Increase of revenue funding of £3m

 

i) Additional funding £0.5m will be provided to ensure every child that LCC looks after has the best start in life and support as if they were our own children.

 

ii) £1.0m to introduce a local education maintenance allowance to enable more children from disadvantaged families to achieve their maximum potential. This will augment the lower level of bursaries provided by some schools.

 

iii) £0.5m will be used to provide further targeted investment in work and training opportunities for young people in Lincolnshire.

 

iv) £0.5m of additional funding will be allocated to begin to rebuild the youth facility provision across the county.

 

v) £0.5m will be provided of additional funding to tackle the issue of children with special education needs being more likely to be excluded from school than any other group.

 

 

Park and Ride Scheme

Increase of revenue funding of £0.500m and capital spending of £3m

 

Increase the Capital Programme by £3m to begin work for a new park and ride scheme in Lincoln with our partners. The associated costs for 2014/15 have been calculated as £200k for Capital Financing Charges and £300k for bus running costs.

 

Implement the Living Wage for all County Council employees

Increase of £1m

 

This funding will be used to ensure that all County Council employees, including those employed in schools will be paid at least £7.65 an hour. This policy will benefit our lowest paid workers and the wider Lincolnshire economy.

 

These budget amendments allow for affordable additional spending which is directed towards important areas neglected in this and previous year's budgets.

 

The Executive Director for Resources and Community Safety has confirmed that these proposals are within the existing Financial Strategy of the council and represent a balanced budget for 2014/15. Should any proposal have a revenue budget impact in 2015/16 and beyond this would need consideration as part of the fundamental review of service priorities and budgets planned for later this year."

 

An amendment (ii) was moved and seconded by the Lincolnshire Independents as follows:

 

"I congratulate the staff and all involved in compiling the budget in difficult circumstances and thank them for the expert support we have received throughout the budget process.

 

Our group has run workshops on what is most important for us in Lincolnshire. From this, I am proposing one amendment to the circulated             report ‘Council Budget 2013';

 

This Conservative-led government has so reduced the amount of funds devolved to local government that our backs are now against the wall. This council notes that the policy of the current Conservative-led administration to continue to use council reserves is unsustainable and hides the nature of the cuts to come. This is a significant erosion of our financial position in future years which is untenable.

 

We believe the public of Lincolnshire do recognise the economic problems facing both the country and Lincolnshire. Local government has been very hard-hit. The central government grants passed to local government will have reduced by 44pc over the life of this parliament.

 

We have cut our cloth, reducing management and staff and asking communities to take on more. We are working across other councils and health and reduced overheads. However, we are told that we are only half way through and we should expect the same reductions again with a crunch year in 2014/15. But this time the easier cuts have already been made and reserves used, and we begin to find that even our statutory duties will become hard to meet.

 

We further believe and understand that continuing to reduce the council's baseline budget and cutting services, without sufficient alternative provision in place, is no longer workable and in some places dangerous.

 

We do have to change and support our communities to cope. We therefore propose that £1.837m in the base budget is to be earmarked for a new community services investment fund. This is to empower local communities to develop alternative future service provision which redesigns existing council services and protects front line service provision.

 

Lincolnshire has one of the two lowest tax levels in the country. We believe a rising local tax in future years is inevitable, irrespective of who is in charge.

 

We therefore propose to set the council tax at a 1.9pc increase raising £1.837m as a proactive move to support communities through change.  This seed corn is to be used as a foundation for supporting communities and voluntary bodies to develop to do more, for business and jobs, for youth and apprenticeships and to help protect the most vulnerable.

 

The Executive Director for Resources and Community Safety has confirmed that the proposals are within the current financial strategy of the Council and represent a balanced budget for 2014/15."

 

A recorded vote was successfully requested for the above amendment (i), and upon being put to the vote, was lost.  (Yes – 11, No – 62, abstain – 0)

 

A recorded vote was successfully requested for the above amendment (ii), and upon being put to the vote, was lost. (Yes – 21, No – 48, abstain – 4)

 

RESOLVED

 

(1)  That the responses to consultation on the Council’s budget proposals as contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix C "Budget Consultation" pages 22 - 31) be noted.

 

(2)  That the Section 151 Officer’s statement on the Robustness of the Budget and the Adequacy of Reserves (Section 10 of the accompanying booklet,       pages 16 to 19) be noted.

 

(3)  That the service revenue budgets for 2014/15 contained in the appended Budget Book (Table 2 "Net service Revenue Budget 2014/15 and change over previous year", page 8) be agreed.

 

(4)  That the capital programme 2014/15   and its funding contained in the appended Budget Book (Section 7 "Capital Programme", pages 14 and 15) be agreed.

 

(5)  That the County Council element of the council tax            for a Band D property at £1065.69 for 2014/15 contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix B "County Precept 2014/15", page 21) be agreed.

 

And that together these form the Council’s Budget.

 

(6)  That the Council's Financial Strategy contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix D "Financial             Strategy", pages 32 – 39)

 

(7)  That the prudential targets for capital finance be agreed and the prudential indicators contained in the appended Budget Book (Appendix K "Prudential         Indicators", pages 48 and 49) be noted.

 

(8) That a minimum revenue provision (MRP) based on the asset life method and made in equal instalments over the estimated life of the assets acquired through borrowing as set out in the appended Budget Book (Section 9 "Minimum Revenue Provision", page 16), be agreed.