Consideration was given to the report of the Chief Finance Officer on the draft Revenue Budget for 2022/23.  The budget had been scrutinised by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) on 24 January 2022 and a copy of the Minutes arising from the OSC meeting had been appended to the report for Cabinet’s consideration.  Also appended to the report were details of the summary draft Revenue Budget, the summary information for each service area, special expenses for 2022/23 and the Council’s revenue earmarked reserves.

The following key issues were highlighted:

·       the Council Tax referendum principle for Rother would allow an increase in Council Tax of 2% or £5 whichever was the greater.  For 2022/23, to ensure the Council remained within the referendum limit, it was assumed that an increase of £4.67 (2.47%) to £193.38 would be agreed for a Band D property;

·       the following minor changes had been made namely increases of £6,000 to the Expenditure Budget and £193,000 following a review of the Collection Fund surplus, as well as the transfer of Bexhill Town Forum budget to Christmas Lighting in Special Expenses (no overall change);

·       the 2022/23 Revenue Budget net expenditure was £16.736m; and

·       the call on Revenue Reserves in 2022/23 would reduce by £188,000 to £3.108m.

The budget consultation closed on 31 January 2022 and 275 (266 residents) responses had been received.  A summary of the results had been disseminated to Members prior to the meeting.  It was disappointing to note that environmental services such as public safety and licensing were not considered priority services; both of these services were essential to ensuring that the public were kept safe.  Members felt that awareness of these services should be increased via the Council’s communications platforms. 

Cabinet noted the OSC’s comments, particularly with regard to using pre-fabricated / modular buildings for temporary accommodation on Council-owned sites.  It was confirmed that where possible and, if appropriate, all modern methods of building (modular and timber framed) constructions would be considered.

It was clarified that the Council Tax Reduction Scheme would be effective from 1 April 2022.

The draft Revenue Budget had been balanced for 2022/23 by the planned use of £3.296m from Reserves.  This was not sustainable, and it would be imperative that the Council delivered on key initiatives such as the Financial Stability Programme and Property Investment Strategy which were aimed at generating income and cost savings.  Without action, the financial forecast showed Reserves would be under considerable pressure and may fall below acceptable levels over the next five years.  This was attributed to several reasons but in particular the Council Tax freeze from 2011-2015 and significant increased costs of the joint Waste and Recycling contract.  The Council would also be vulnerable to being able to cope with unexpected costs that arose.  There were also risks regarding the impact of the Fair Funding Review and the income from business rates.  Delivering a sustainable future remained a significant challenge for the Council.

RECOMMENDED: That consequent to the deliberations of the Overview  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75