Issue - meetings

Council Budget 2019/20

Meeting: 18/12/2018 - Executive (Item 39)

39 Council Budget 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 440 KB

(To receive a report from the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection, which seeks approval of the budget proposals, as described in the report, as its preferred option for the purposes of further consultation)

Additional documents:

Decision:

(1)  That the budget proposals, as described in the report, be approved as the preferred option for the purposes of further consultation, subject to £1,018,571 being allocated to Heritage Services; and that Council Tax be increased by 4.95% in 2019/20.

 

(2)  That the Leader of the Council be delegated authority to confirm participation in a Business Rates Pool in 2019/20.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which outlined the Council's budget proposals for the financial year 2019/20, based on the four-year funding deal announced by the Government, as part of the 2016/17 Local Government Finance Settlement. 

 

The Executive was asked to make proposals for the Council's budget for 2019/20 and to refer those proposals for internal and external consultation. 

 

Details of the Provisional Local Government Settlement for 2019/20 had not yet been issued at the time of writing the report.  However a briefing report, which was tabled at the meeting, provided detail of the Provisional Local Government Settlement for 2019/20 and covered the following:

 

·         The funding that the County Council would receive from the Government in 2019/20 was largely in line with the four-year deal which the County Council agreed to in October 2017, with exception to the Rural Services Delivery Grant which was expected to be over £1.3m higher next year than previously advised as part of the four-year deal.  This grant was now expected to be £6.935m in 2019/20 in recognition of the additional costs of providing services in rural areas;

·         It was also announced that there was a surplus amount in the national Business Rates Levy Account and this would be distributed to authorities for 2019/20. The indicative amount for Lincolnshire County Council was £1.683m;

·         The county-wide business rate pilot bid for 2019/20 submitted by all eight Lincolnshire authorities, together with North Lincolnshire Council, had not been approved.  The non-approval was in line with expectations, given the success in getting a bid approved for the current financial year 2018/19. The County Council would revert to a business rates pooling arrangement with all seven districts for 2019/20;

·         The provisional settlement had reaffirmed an announcement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Autumn Budget that further one-year funding would be available in 2019/20 for both adult care winter pressures (£3.368m for Lincolnshire) and for additional adult and children's social care pressures (£5.754m for Lincolnshire);

·         Also previously announced in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Autumn Budget was an additional £13.7m capital funding for highways maintenance ('pothole funding') which, whilst available in the current year, was expected to be of some benefit next year in terms of improving the condition of the road network;

·         The core level of council tax, which could be levied prior to triggering a referendum, would be 3% for 2018/19 (plus 2% for the adult care precept).  The provisional budget approved for 2019/20 by Council in February 2018 was predicated on only a 2% maximum referendum threshold for core council tax 2019/20.  An additional 1% council tax income was worth approximately £2.8m per annum in the income base of the County Council;

·         Further consultation papers on the proposed 75% business rate localisation from April 2020 and the related national Fair Funding Review were also released along with the Provisional Settlement, which would be analysed over coming weeks. The consultation response deadline date for both was 21 February 2019.

 

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39


 

 
 
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