Agenda item

To receive the report of the Director of Finance, Resources & Customer Services (No.189A) presenting for approval the Budget for the 2012/13 and Medium Term Financial Plan (General Fund).

Recommendations 2.1 – 2.6 were endorsed and recommended for approval to Council, at the Cabinet meeting held on 8 February 2012.  Recommendation 2.7 has also been included for Council approval.  (Key Decision – Reference No.3399)

Councillor Taylor moved and Councillor Stafford seconded the report of the Director of Finance, Resources and Customer Services (No.189A) presenting for approval the Budget for 2012/13 and Medium Term Financial Plan (General Fund). 

NOTED

1.      Recommendations 2.1 - 2.6 within the report had been endorsed and recommended onto Council, at the Cabinet meeting held on 8 February 2012.  Recommendation 2.7 (relating to the Members Allowance Scheme) had subsequently also been included for consideration.

2.      The outcome from the budget consultation process undertaken on the proposals for 2012/13, as detailed within Appendix 1(b) of the report.

3.      The ongoing pressures and their impact on delivery of a balanced budget arising from inflation, reductions in Government grants, demographic pressures, reforms to the Welfare Benefits system and other changes in Government legislation and the continued negative impact of the damping mechanism.

4.      The recommended budget reflected a balanced position; included no increase in the level of Council Tax in 2012/13 and was also felt to reflect the Administrations achievements in relation to the core aims of Fairness for All; Growth & Sustainability and Strong Communities.

5.      The need identified by the Opposition Group to recognise what they felt to be:

a.            the increasing level of freedom provided in relation to they way funding was now being allocated to local authorities by Central Government.

b.      the tough decisions that would need to be taken in relation to ongoing delivery of savings in order to provide and maintain a balanced budget.

6.      The thanks to Council officers for their support and efforts in delivery of the budget proposals alongside the key achievements made by the current Administration.

AGREED

(1)    to draw the attention of Members to the comments in paragraph 8.5 of the report regarding S106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 which required any Member who is two months or more in arrears on their Council Tax to declare their position and not to vote on any issue that could affect the calculation of the budget or Council tax.

(2)    with regard to the revenue budget for 2012/13:

(a)    to set the council tax requirement for Enfield at £121.500m in 2012/13;

(b)    subject to final pupil count data, to approve expenditure of £277.085m on the schools’ budget, funded from the Dedicated Schools’ Grant;

(c)    to set the Council Tax at Band D for Enfield’s services for 2012/13 at £1100.34 (as detailed in section 8.1 of the report), there being no increase over the 2011/12 Council tax;

(d)    to note the statutory calculations and resolutions (as set out in Appendix 10 of the report)

(3)    with regard to the Prudential Code and the Capital Programme:

(a)    to note the information regarding the requirements of the Prudential Code (as detailed in section 9 of the report);

(b)    the proposals for allocating resources to capital projects (as set out in section 9 and Appendix 5 of the report);

(c)    the Prudential Indicators, the Treasury Management Strategy, the Minimum Revenue Provision statement and the criteria for investments (as set out in section 9 and Appendix 4 of the report)

(4)    with regard to the Medium Term Financial Plan, to note the forecast for the medium term as set out in section 10 of the report and adopt the key principles set out in paragraph 10.16 of the report.

(5)    with regard to the robustness of the 2012/13 budget and the adequacy of the Council’s earmarked reserves and balances:

(a)    to note the risks and uncertainties inherent in the 2012/13 budget and the Medium Term Financial Plan (as detailed in section 11 of the report);

(b)    to note the advice of the Director of Finance, Resources and Customer Services regarding the recommended levels of contingencies, balances and earmarked reserves (as detailed in section 12 of the report) and have regard to the Director’s statement (as detailed in section 13 of the report) as part of the final decision making process on the 2012/13 budget

(c)    to note the recommended levels of central contingency and general balances

(6)    to agree the Fees and Charges for Environmental Services for 2012/13 (as detailed in Appendix 9b of the report).

(7)    to re-approve the current members allowances scheme and that the automatic increase in allowances by the average earnings as at March not be implemented for the 2011/12 financial year (as detailed in section 13.5 of report).

Following a lengthy debate, the above recommendations were put to the vote and approved with the following result:

For: 32

Against: 0

Abstentions: 23