Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, any prejudicial interests or any disclosable pecuniary interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

It was noted the Monitoring Officer had granted a dispensation to all Members in respect of any disclosable pecuniary interests Members had to enable them to participate in any meetings of the Council, Cabinet or Scrutiny, where the business to be discussed related to the Council functions in setting the council tax.

The following personal interests were also declared:

To approve and sign the minutes of the last Ordinary meeting of Council held on 12 December 2013.

Resolved:   That the minutes of the last Ordinary meeting of Council held on 12 December 2013 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record

To consider any announcements made by the Lord Mayor in respect of Civic business.

The Lord Mayor firstly welcomed Cllr Steward to the Council meeting in his new role as Leader of the Conservative Group and wished him a happy tenure in the role.

She went on to congratulate Cllr Linsay Cunningham-Cross for her recent award of the Bruce-Lockhart Member Scholarship by the Local Government Information Unit. The judges had been impressed with Cllr Cunningham-Cross’ proposal to develop a model for increasing engagement and participation in local democracy.

Finally she went on to announce the death of the former Sheriff’s Lady Wyn Laverack, wife of John Laverack, Sheriff of York in 1978. The present Sheriff and Sheriff’s Lady had attended her funeral service earlier in the week, at the Holy Trinity Church in Heworth.  

At this point in the meeting, any member of the public who has registered to address the Council, or to ask a Member of the Council a question, on a matter directly relevant to the business on this agenda (namely, the setting of the budget) may do so. The deadline for registering is 5:00pm on Wednesday 26 February 2014.

WEBCASTING NOTICE

Please note: this meeting may be filmed for live or subsequent broadcast via the internet - at the start of the meeting the Lord Mayor will confirm if all or part of the meeting is being filmed.

You should be aware that the Council is a Data Controller under the Data Protection Act. Data collected during this webcast will be retained in accordance with the Council’s published policy.

Public seating areas will not be filmed by the Council and public participants, who have registered to speak at the meeting, will not be filmed unless their consent has been obtained.

Link to Protocol for Webcasting, Filming and Recording of Council Meetings:

http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=437&MId=8065&Ver=4

The Lord Mayor announced that three members of the public had registered to speak at the meeting.

Heather McKenzie, on behalf of Unison drew Members attention to the unprecedented levels of cuts to public services being undertaken. She expressed support for the areas of budget growth, including the Living Wage, but raised concerns at financial pressures to privatise and over reliance on community and voluntary organisations. She requested further examination of in house provision to ensure democratically accountable services to protect the most vulnerable and needy in society and made a request for Members to fight the Government’s austerity measures.

Garry Jones, Chief Executive of York CVS, spoke to confirm his support for many of the budget proposals. He raised concerns at the budget outlook for 2016/19 and the effects that this would have on public services which he considered unjust, unacceptable and unfair.

Christopher Brace, spoke on behalf of the York People’s Assembly, also raising concerns at the effects of the Governments austerity measures. He highlighted inequalities in the present system pointing out that life on benefits was not any easy option. He asked Council to reject the austerity measures by not agreeing a budget.

To consider any petitions to be presented to Members in relation to business associated with setting the Council’s budget for the coming financial year, in accordance with Standing Order No. 7.

The Lord Mayor confirmed that she had received no notification of any petitions to be presented to Council in relation to the setting of the Council’s budget.

To consider the recommendations made by Cabinet, at their meeting held on 11 February 2014, following consideration of the third monitor report on the Capital Programme. These are set out in the attached Part B minute and will be moved by the Cabinet Leader.

Councillor Alexander moved and Councillor Williams seconded the recommendation made by Cabinet at their meeting held on 11 February 2014, following consideration of the third monitor report on the Capital Programme (minute 104 refers) as follows:

“That Council agree the adjustments in the Capital programme of a decrease of £11.659m in 2013/14 as detailed in the report and contained in Annex A.”

On being put to the vote the recommendation was declared CARRIED and it was

Resolved:           That the recommendation contained in minute 104 of the Cabinet meeting held on 11 February 2014 be approved. ^1.

Reason:              To enable the effective management and monitoring of the Council’s capital programme.

To consider the recommendations made by Cabinet, at their meeting held on 11 February 2014, in relation to:

a)          The Council’s Capital Programme Budget for 2014/15 – 2018/19

b)          The Council’s Revenue Budget proposals for 2014 to 2019 and

c)           The Council’s Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Prudential Indicators for 2014/15 – 2018/19

These recommendations are set out in the attached report and will be moved by the Council Leader.

Note:

The original budget reports to Cabinet, on which their recommendations are based, were circulated to all Members on 3 February 2014 and can be found on the Council’s website, here:

http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=733&MId=7645&Ver=4

Councillor Alexander moved, and Councillor Simpson-Laing seconded, the recommendations of the Cabinet, as set out in paragraphs 35 to 37 of the report at pages 1 to 3 of the additional Council papers, circulated prior to the meeting and republished with the online agenda, as follows, in relation to:

a)      The Council’s Capital Programme Budget for 2014/15 – 2018/19

b)      The Council’s Revenue Budget proposals for 2014 to 2019 and

c)      The Council’s Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Prudential Indicators for 2014/15 – 2018/19

“Capital Strategy

35.    Cabinet recommends that Council;

             i.        Agree to the revised capital programme of £182.700m that reflects a net overall increase of £38.132m (as set out in paragraph 53 table 7 and in Annex B). Key elements of this include:

a.   Extension of prudential borrowing funded Rolling Programme schemes totalling £11.050m as set out in table 2 and summarised in table 7;

b.   New schemes totalling £6.120m including an increase in prudential borrowing of £5.325m as set out in table 3 and summarised in table 7;

c.   New externally funded schemes totalling £12.003m as set out in table 4 and summarised in table 7;

d.   An increase in HRA funded schemes totalling £8.959m funded from HRA balances of £8.959m as set out in table 5 and summarised in table 7.

            ii.        Approve the full restated programme as summarised in Annex A totalling £182.700m cover financial years 2014/15 to 2018/19 as set out in table 8 and Annex A

Reason:     To set a balanced capital programme as required by the Local Government Act 2003.

Revenue Budget

36.    Cabinet recommends that Council;

             i.        approve the budget proposals outlined in the Financial Strategy report, in particular;

                               a.    The net revenue expenditure requirement of £124.186m

                               b.    A Council Tax requirement of £71.768m

                               c.    The revenue growth proposals as outlined in the body of the report

                               d.    The revenue savings proposals as outlined in Annex 3 and 4

                               e.    The fees and charges proposals as outlined in Annex 5

                               f.      The Housing Revenue Account budget set out in Annex 6

                               g.    The dedicated schools grant proposals outlined in Annex 7

            ii.        Note that the effect of approving the income and expenditure proposals included in the recommendations would result in a 1.9% increase in the City of York Council element of the council tax.

Reason: To ensure a legally balanced budget is set.

Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Prudential Indicators

37.    Cabinet recommends that Council approve;

             i.        The proposed treasury management strategy for 2014/15, including the annual investment strategy and the minimum revenue provision policy statement

            ii.        The prudential indicators for 2014/15 to 2018/19 in the main body of the Cabinet report

           iii.        The specified and non specified investments schedule (Annex B to the Cabinet report)

          iv.        The scheme of delegation and the role of the Section 151 officer (Annex D to the Cabinet report)

Reason:              To enable the continued effective operation of the Treasury Management function and ensure that all Council borrowing is prudent, affordable and sustainable.”

Conservative Amendment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

To consider the Council Tax Resolution for 2014/15, as set out in the attached report.

A named vote was then taken on the Council Tax recommendation, with the following result:

The motion was declared CARRIED and it was

Resolved:     (i)             That it be noted that on 16 December 2013 the Director of Customer and Business Support Services, under his delegated authority, calculated the Council Tax Base for the year 2014/15:

(a)        for the whole Council area as 61,574.84 Item T in the formula in Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the “Act”)]; and

(b)        for those dwellings in those parts of its area to which a Parish precept relates as in column 1 in the attached Schedule A.

(ii)         Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2014/15 (excluding Parish precepts) is £71,767,930.

(iii)        That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2014/15 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

(a)         £386,060,855.00 being the aggregate of the amounts which 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.

(b)        £313,692,272.00 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.

(c)         £72,368,583.00 being the amount by which the aggregate at 14(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 14(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year. [Item R in the formula in Section 31B of the Act].

(d)        £1,175.29 being the amount at 14(c) above [Item R], all divided by Item T (12(a) above), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year (including Parish precepts).

(e)        £600,653.00 being the aggregate amount of all special items (Parish precepts) referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act (as per the attached Schedule A).

(f)          £1,165.54 being the amount at 14(d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 14(e) above by Item T (12(a) 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 Parish precept relates.

(iv)  To note that North Yorkshire Police and the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.