Decision details

(A)   Agree that the proposed budget should make use of the

flexibility from Government to increase Council Tax by 3%, which will increase Council Tax revenue by £33,813 a year and will result in a Band D Council Tax increase of £5.53 which is 53 pence a year more than the planned £5 increase included in the Medium Term Financial Plan;

(B)   Agree that Leadership Team proceed with the savings plan for

2023/24 for changes under delegated authority and that do not directly impact residents or all of local businesses;

(C)   Request Audit & Governance Committee to consider the savings items reserved for Member decision and to advise Executive of any significant adverse impact on the district of recommending to Council these savings are implemented;

(D)   Agree that in order to smooth the delivery of the substantial

savings targets over the Medium Term Financial Plan that the

General Reserve and the Interest Equalisation Reserve are used as reported;

(E)   Agree that a temporary use of £400k of the New Homes Priority Spend Reserve, repayable in 2027/28 and 2028/29, may be used to assist with smoothing the delivery of savings as reported;

(F)    Agree the pausing of non-essential capital schemes to prioritise completion of the major projects; provide essential capital financing for the purchase of food waste caddies and changes to Buntingford Depot as part of the new contract fuel and energy strategy;

(G)   Note that the pausing of the £9.6 million of capital spend will

reduce revenue costs of Minimum Revenue Provision and

interest by £719k per annum on rebased capital financing

charges using current interest rates;

(H)   Note that the savings requirements, that will need to be

delivered to balance the budget in the Medium Term, the

delivery profile of which has been smoothed using earmarked

reserves, are:

2023/24 £822k

2024/25 £2,170k

2025/26 £2,192k

2026/27 £2,053k

2027/28 £567k.

(I)    Delegate to the Head of Strategic Finance & Property, in

consultation with the Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Financial Sustainability, the ability to amend the budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan to reflect the Local Government Finance Settlement and other emerging information, so that Audit & Governance Committee can consider the must complete and up to date information when they scrutinise the budget at their meeting on 24 January 2023; and

(J)     Note that the level of budget reductions required to balance the budget in the medium term is beyond further efficiency

measures alone and instructs Leadership Team to commence

preparations for the Reconciling Policy, Performance and

Resources exercise that the new Council, elected in May 2023, will need to undertake alongside the new Corporate Plan, to balance the budget over the medium term.