Issue - meetings

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

It was resolved –

·                To agree the final details of the Council’s proposed budget as shown in Section 4 of Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 of the report.

·                To note the Section 151 Officer’s recommendation that the Council should maintain a minimum of £8.6m general balances.

·                To note the comments made by the Section 151 Officer on the robustness of the estimates made, as set out in Section 5 of Appendix 1.

·                To recommend a net budget for the County Council of £174.569m and resulting increase in the level of Council Tax of 5.00% (£68.40 – Band D) to the Full Council, noting that a formal resolution, including the North Wales Police and Community Council precepts will be presented to the Council on 9 March, 2023.

·                That any differences between the provisional settlement and the final settlement will be adjusted for by using the general contingency which is included in the 2023/24 budget, or by making a contribution to/from the Council’s general reserves in order to set a balanced budget.

·                To authorise the Section 151 Officer to make such changes as may be necessary before the submission of the final proposals to the Council.

·                To agree that any unforeseen pressures on demand led budgets during the financial year will be able to draw upon funding from the general contingencies budget.

·                To request the Council to authorise the Executive to release up to £250k from general balances if the general contingencies budget is fully committed during the year.

·                To delegate to the Section 151 Officer the power to release funding from the general contingency up to £50k for any single item. Any item in excess of £50k not to be approved without prior consent of the Executive.

·                To confirm that the level of Council Tax Premium for second homes increases to 75% and for empty homes remains at 100%.

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer setting out the  detailed revenue budget proposals for 2023/24 for the Executive’s final review and agreement was presented.

Councillor Robin Williams, Portfolio Member for Finance, Corporate Business and Customer Experience reported that the Executive is required to agree a number of key matters in respect of the 2023/24 budget. This will then allow the final recommendations to be presented to the Full Council at its meeting on 9 March, 2023. The matters requiring agreement are the Council’s Revenue Budget and resulting Council Tax for 2023/24; the Council’s updated Medium Term Financial Strategy and the use of any one-off funds to support the budget.

The Executive proposed a budget for 2023/24 of £172.438m which based on the provisional AEF of £123.555m would require an increase of 5% in Council Tax and the use of £1.758m of the Council’s general balances to balance the budget. The approach taken of combining savings with increasing the Council Tax and using balances to achieve a balanced budget was endorsed as part of the public consultation process on the Council Plan and was also supported by the Corporate Scrutiny Committee when it considered the initial budget proposals at its meeting on 19 January, 2023. The budget also includes a propsed increase in the Council Tax Premium for second homes to 75% the income from which will be used to increase the supply of affordable housing. However, on 24 February the Employers announced the initial pay offer to the Union in respect of the non-teaching pay award. The offer is a flat rate increase of £1,925 to all employees with an increase of 3.88% to all employees on spinal column point 43 and above and a 3.5% increase for Chief Officers and the Chief Executive. It is estimated that this will increase costs by approximately 7% compared to the 3.5% that was allowed for in the initial budget proposal and will therefore place an additional £2m as a pressure on the budget. Having considered how to fund this additional cost, and having concluded that finding savings worth £2m at this late stage in the budget setting process is impractical and that increasing Council Tax by 10% to cover the cost is unacceptable in the current economic climate the Executive proposes that the Council’s reserves be used to meet this cost in 2023/24 as the only realistic option. The Portfolio Member highlighted that this option is possible because the Council’s finances have been prudently managed over recent years thereby building up reserves to a level that allows the Council to meet such costs without further detriment to services or the public. Having a sufficient level of reserves not only enables the Council’s immediate needs to be met but places it in a better position to be able to deal with future challenges. He was therefore happy to propose the budget to the Executive.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer said that he was required to set a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13