Agenda item

2019/20 COUNCIL TAX

Meeting of Executive, Wednesday 13 February 2019 7.00 pm (Item 116.)

Minutes:

Report FSD19019

The report identified the final issues affecting the 2019/20 revenue budget and presented recommendations to the Council on the level of the Bromley element of the 2019/20 Council Tax and Adult Social Care precept. Confirmation of the final GLA precept would be reported to the Council meeting on 25^th February 2019. The approach reflected in the report was for the Council to not only achieve a legal and financially balanced budget in 2019/20 but to have measures in place to deal with the medium term financial position (2020/21 to 2022/23). Amended recommendations and comments from all PDS Committee were tabled at the meeting.

The Portfolio Holder for Resources, Commissioning and Contract Management drew Members’ attention to the interest income from the Council’s investments, which would reach £15.4m and was a key part of the revenue stream, and also to the importance of lobbying Government for adequate funding.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Community Services drew attention to comments at the Environment and Community Services PDS Committee on the road maintenance budget. He considered that, in the light of the Government’s recent allocation of additional funding, it was reasonable to take the proposed £177k saving for 2019/20, but not as a permanent reduction to the road maintenance revenue budget. The Leader concurred. The Portfolio Holder also confirmed that the PDS Committee had supported changes relating to parking issues, and he would be issuing a decision shortly.

Councillor Angela Wilkins stated that she was concerned that there had not been adequate scrutiny of the Education budget by the Education, Children and Families Select Committee, following the discussions at the Schools Forum and the Education, Children and Families Budget and Performance Monitoring Sub-Committee, and she suggested that there were discrepancies relating to the High Needs element of the Schools Budget and the disapplication request which had now been refused by the Department for Education (DfE). She also commented that Ellie Reeves MP had not been included in lobbying efforts on behalf of the Council.

The Children, Education and Families Portfolio Holder emphasised that the process had been explained at various meetings and with the schools. He was clear that no discrepancies existed. The Portfolio Holder said that everything had been explained to Councillor Wilkins at a one-to-one briefing with officers and made clear in a letter published by the Portfolio Holder, but that he was happy to explain it to her again. He stated that there were budget negotiations throughout the year with the Schools Forum, and that the Council was concerned that there was a shortfall of £3m in the High Needs funding from the DfE. A disapplication request was submitted but, as expected, it was denied.

The Council felt it was important that it had been submitted in terms of lobbying for the funding required. The Council was no longer able to move funds around to deal with this, so it was using £2m from its own reserves to help address the shortfall.

He stated that it was regrettable that a letter sent from Head Teachers to parents had not mentioned the extra funding from the council, the ring-fenced grant money or the lobbying process. He stated that he would continue to work with all the Borough’s MPs to lobby Government, but that he would always use the most expedient path to deliver outcomes for the Borough’s children as that was far more important than party politics. The Portfolio Holder further responded that he had contacted Ellie Reeves MP in the past but was yet to receive a direct response.

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to -

(1) (a) Approve the schools budget of £76.722 million which matches the estimated level of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) after academy recoupment (a reduction of £922k – see (b) below);

(b) Approve the draft revenue budgets (as in Appendix 2to the report) for 2019/20 to include the following updated changes:

(i) DfE have refused a disapplication request by the Council resulting in increased costs of £1m (£922k reduction in DSG income due to Academy recoupment and £78k to an increase in expenditure for maintained schools). This is offset by a reduction of £788k held in the Central Contingency for additional 2019/20 High Needs (SEN) Funding. The shortfall of £212k will be met from the Government’s additional 2018/19 High Needs Funding which will be reflected in the next Budget Monitoring 2018/19 report to Executive.

(ii) Parking Income £308k – subject to the final agreement of the Portfolio Holder for Environment & Community Services.

(iii) Other minor variations totalling £65k mainly relating to Business Rate Levy funding and updated collection fund surplus.

mitigation within their departmental budgets where it is not possible to realise any savings/mitigation reported to the previous meeting of the Executive held on 16^th January 2019;

(d) Approve the following provisions for levies for inclusion in the budget for 2019/20:

	£’000
London Pensions Fund Authority	452
London Boroughs Grant Committee	249
Environment Agency (flood defence etc.)	249
Lee Valley Regional Park	312
Total	1,262

(e) Approve a revised Central Contingency sum of £10,943k to reflect the changes in (b) and (d);

(f) Note that the 2019/20 Central Contingency sum includes significant costs not yet allocated and there will therefore be further changes to reflect allocations to individual Portfolio budgets prior to publication of the Financial Control Budget;

(g) Approve the revised draft 2019/20 revenue budgets to reflect the changes detailed above;

(h) Set a 4.99% increase in Bromley’s council tax for 2019/20 compared with 2018/19 (2.99% general increase plus 2% Adult Social Care Precept) and note that, based upon their consultation exercise, the GLA are currently assuming a 8.9% increase in the GLA precept;

(i) Note the latest position on the GLA precept, as above, which will be finalised in the overall Council Tax figure to be reported to full Council (see section 12 of the report);

(j) Approve the approach to reserves outlined by the Director of Finance (see Appendix 4 to the report);

(k) Executive agree that the Director of Finance be authorised to report any further changes directly to Council on 25^th February 2019.

(2) Council Tax 2019/20 – Statutory Calculations and Resolutions (as amended by the Localism Act 2011)

Subject to 2.1 (a) to (k) above, if the formal Council Tax Resolution as detailed below is approved, the total Band D Council Tax will be as follows:

	2018/19 £	2019/20 £	Increase £	Increase % (note #)
Bromley (general)	1,094.18	1,128.80	34.62	2.99
Bromley (ASC precept)	64.30	87.46	23.16	2.00
Bromley (total)	1,158.48	1,216.26	57.78	4.99
GLA *	294.23	320.51	26.28	8.93
Total	1,452.71	1,536.77	84.06	5.79

* The GLA Precept may need to be amended once the actual GLA budget is set.

(#) in line with the 2019/20 Council Tax Referendum Principles, the % increase applied is based on an authority’s “relevant basic amount of Council Tax” (£1,158.48 for Bromley) – see paragraph 6 below. Any further changes arising from these Principles will be reported directly to Council on 25^th February 2019.

(3) Council be recommended to formally resolve as follows:

1. It be noted that the Council Tax Base for 2019/20 is 131,428 ‘Band D’ equivalent properties.

2. Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2019/2020 is £159,851k.

3. That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2019/20 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the Act):

(a) £531,584k being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act.

(b) £371,733k being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates or the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.

(c) £159,851k being the amount by which the aggregate at 3(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 3(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year.

(d) £1,216.26 being the amount at 3(c) above, divided by (1) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year.

(4) To note that the Greater London Authority (GLA) has issued a precept to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for each category of dwellings in the Council’s area as indicated in the table below (NB. the GLA precept figure may need to be amended once the actual GLA budget is set).

(5) That the Council, in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the aggregate amounts shown in the table below as the amounts of Council Tax for 2019/20 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings.

Valuation Bands	London Borough of Bromley £	Greater London Authority £	Aggregate of Council Tax Requirements £
A	810.84	213.67	1,024.51
B	945.98	249.29	1,195.27
C	1,081.12	284.90	1,366.02
D	1,216.26	320.51	1,536.77
E	1,486.54	391.73	1,878.27
F	1,756.82	462.96	2,219.78
G	2,027.10	534.18	2,561.28
H	2,432.52	641.02	3,073.54

(6) That the Council hereby determines that its relevant basic amount of council tax for the financial year 2019/20, which reflects a 4.99% increase (including Adult Social Care Precept of 2%), is not excessive. The Referendums Relating to Council Tax Increases (Principles) (England) Report 2019/20 sets out the principles which the Secretary of State has determined will apply to local authorities in England in 2019/20. Any further changes arising from these Principles will be reported directly to Council on 25^th February 2019. The Council is required to determine whether its relevant basic amount of Council Tax is excessive in accordance with the principles approved under Section 52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

Supporting documents: