Decision details

Purpose of Report: To present the Financial Strategy, including detailed revenue budget proposals.

Members are asked to recommend the proposals to full Council.

Resolved:  (i)      That the average rent decrease of 1%,  described in paragraph 158 of the report and shown in Table 14 at paragraph 159, be applied to all ‘social housing rents’ for 2018/19.

Reason:     As required by legislation.

(ii)      That the average rent increase of 4%, described in paragraph 60, be applied to all rents which fall outside the definition of ‘social housing rents’ for 2018/19.

Reason:     To ensure the ongoing financial stability of the HRA and allow work on improving the quality of the council’s affordable housing to continue.

                   (iii)     That the receipt of an additional £457k adult social care grant announced in the final settlement on 6 February be noted.

Reason:     So that this can be taken into account in the recommendations to Council.

                   (iv)    That Officers be requested to:

a)   Provide more management data on council owned garages (there is income being lost from poor promotion of vacant garages in areas where there is demand);

b)   Develop schemes to promote a system for nearby residents to combine bulk waste requests, as trialled with the Community Recycling Scheme;

c)   Work with Yorwaste to reduce charges at the Household Waste Recycling Centre for inert domestic waste.

(v)     That the Chief Executive and Director for Adult Social Care be requested to set up a meeting of organisations including the Clinical Commissioning Group(CCG), NHS Trust and other partners, to examine plans for the resolution of funding pressures on health services for residents, covering the ‘winter pressures’ and delayed transfer of care.

Reason:     To ensure that these areas of particular concern for residents are properly addressed.

Recommended: (i)      That the £46k cut to the OAP Garden Scheme (HRA4) in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) savings proposals at Annex 6 to the report be deleted, to be replaced by a balancing increase to the Housing Repairs savings (HRA1) through improved IT systems to avoid wasted appointments.

(ii)      That, subject to that amendment, Council approve the budget proposals as outlined in the report; in particular:

a)   The net revenue expenditure requirement of £121.877m;

b)   A council tax requirement of £85.898m;

c)   The revenue growth proposals outlined in the body of the report;

d)   The 2018/19 revenue proposals outlined in Annex 2;

e)   The fees and charges proposals outlined in Annex 4;

f)    The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget set out in Annex 5 and the HRA savings proposals set out in Annex 6;

g)   The dedicated schools grant proposals outlined from paragraph 162;

h)   The use of £373k New Homes Bonus funding to fund one-off investment, as outlined in paragraph 54;

i)     An £800k increase in the contingency budget to fund adult social care, in particular winter pressures and delayed transfers of care, subject to a further report to Executive;

j)     The release of one-off funding of £450k from the transport reserve to fund ongoing expenditure;

k)   The use of £38k of the £156k funding from the Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool (as per the budget report to Executive on 9 February 2017; Minute 121 of that meeting refers) to support the city’s cultural centre by progressing the development and promotion of a clearly defined Cultural Strategy with the Cultural Leaders Group, as set out in a recent Scrutiny report to Executive.

Reason:     To ensure that a legally balanced budget is set.