Issue - meetings

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

It was resolved –

·      To utilise the additional funding resulting from Welsh Government’s final settlement to amend the initial draft budget proposal as follows –

-       Not to implement the proposal to begin making a service charge for industrial and business units in 2025/26

-       Not to implement the proposal to reduce the combined number of days that the Council’s recycling centres are open in 2025/26

-       To reduce the increase in Council Tax by 1% to 8.5% (7.85% for Council Services and 0.65% for the Fire Levy)

-       To allocate £217k to meet future costs of replacing IT equipment schools

·      To note the Section 151 Officer’s recommendation that the Council should maintain a minimum of £9.75m 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 of the report.

·      To recommend a final net budget for the County Council of £195.443m and resulting increase in the level of Council Tax of 8.5% (7.85% for Council Services and 0.65% for the Fire Levy) noting that a formal resolution, including the North Wales Police and Town/Community Council precepts will be presented to the Council on 6 March 2025.

·      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 the prior consent of the Executive.

·      To confirm that the level of Council Tax Premium for second homes and empty homes is maintained at 100%.

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer setting out the detailed revenue budget proposals for 2025/26 for the Executive’s final review and agreement along with the updated Medium Term Financial Strategy were presented.

The report was presented by Councillor Robin Williams, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Member for Finance and Housing who recapped on the background saying that based on an initial settlement which provided a 3.6% increase for Anglesey the Executive proposed an initial draft budget for 2025/26 of £195.234m which included the use of £2m of the Council’s general balances, budget reductions of £699m and a 9.5% increase in Council Tax. Due to time limitations, a short public consultation on the proposal was held the outcome of which is summarised in Appendix 3 to the report. The final Welsh Government settlement announced on 20 February 2025 has included a floor of 3.8% which has resulted in an additional £277k for Anglesey. The Council will also receive a share of a further grant to help councils in Wales meet adult service social care costs. Councillor Robin Williams said that in light of the additional funding and taking into account the responses from the public consultation the  Executive is proposing to amend its initial budget proposals by not implementing the proposal to introduce service charges for industrial and business units, not implementing the proposal to reduce the number of days the Council’s recycling centres are open, reducing the increase in Council Tax by 1% to 8.5% (including the Fire Service Levy) and by allocating £217k to meet future costs of replacing IT equipment in schools. Councillor Robin Williams clarified that as the Executive had already made provision for Adult Services in the initial budget proposal, the grant funding can be applied elsewhere and is being utilised to help bring down the increase in Council Tax to 8.5% making Anglesey’s increase the second lowest of the North Wales councils. With the amendments, the Executive is proposing a net revenue budget of £195.443m.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer explained the changes in the interim between Welsh Government’s initial and final budget settlements which included a change in the data which informs the funding allocation which although it resulted in a £34k reduction in Anglesey’s grant is offset by the additional £277k provided by the 3.8% funding floor. Subject to confirmation, Anglesey’s share of the additional grant for adult social care costs is expected to be in the region of £700k. The Section 151 Officer referred to the responses to the public consultation on the initial budget proposals some of which had favoured using the Council’s reserves over increasing Council Tax in order to meet the budget gap and some of which had commented that the Council should be managed more as a business. Using reserves to balance the budget provides a temporary solution but as reserves can only be spent once this approach is not sustainable in the long-term and does not address the fundamental funding pressures faced  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5