Conservative Councillor Stephen Robinson, Cabinet member for Finance and Resources, addressed South Ribble's Mayor at the full council meeting on Wednesday 6th March at Civic Centre, Leyland.
You can read Councillor Robinson's speech, in full, below:
Mr Mayor,
I must begin by saying that the preparation and delivery of the annual budget does not become any easier as the years go by! Central Government has thrown a lot of challenges to Local Government in the last decade and this year is no exception.
This administration has met all the challenges head on and I am very proud of the way in which the Council, its tremendous staff and the members on this side of the Chamber have supported the actions taken and worked so hard to ensure the highest standards of service with the absolute minimum of posts lost. Thanks to you all.
Last year I set out the background to the budget with reference to the reduction in the government grant as allocated to this authority. It will come as no surprise to learn that the grant has been reduced by a further 11.4% in 2013/14 and will be reduced again in 2014/15. Taken over the four years of the spending review, this core funding will have fallen by around £3 million or 46% on a recurring basis.
Fortunately for this Authority we had foreseen that expenditure would have to fall in order to address the bankrupt state of the nation as bequeathed to us by Labour and we have therefore constantly looked ahead to examine where we could make savings and efficiencies. This has meant that the savings we need take effect in the year they are required and not on a piecemeal basis.
When we set the budget for 2012/13 we anticipated that we would need to transfer £437,000 from General Reserve in order to balance the budget gap - this was after agreeing and producing reductions in expenditure and efficiencies of £644,000. I am delighted to inform you that this transfer will not need to be made as we are on course to transfer into reserves a figure of approximately £242,000.
This has been achieved through a combination of non-recurring and recurring items, and also through extra income that has been generated, for example income from planning fees applications has increased substantially as developers see that South Ribble is a great place to invest. This extra resource means that we have a little more time and space to plan the future carefully whilst not having to take precipitate action with no time for proper consideration.
The financial policies and strategies that we have followed have also received praise and endorsement from our external auditors who stated, and I quote, "In line with others the Council faces considerable uncertainty over the next few years from the impact of economic conditions on the demand for services and centrally driven changes around welfare reform and NNDR changes. Its response to the current financial climate together with its track record indicates it is well placed to meet this challenge". They also state that the Council has achieved significant savings whilst delivering well against its performance targets.
With this ringing endorsement in mind I turn to our proposals for 2013/14. As I stated before our grant has been reduced further and we need to make further savings and efficiencies. We have already identified savings of £515,000, meaning total recurring savings of £1,110,000 in two years, but even after such efficiencies we will require a figure of £607,000 to be transferred from General Reserves. We will, of course, continue to monitor very closely all income and expenditure and take every opportunity to reduce the General Reserve transfer.
Due to changes in welfare reform, it is very difficult to forecast income with any certainty. The cut in Council Tax Benefit, now renamed the Council Tax Support Scheme, and the introduction of Business Rates Retention means that we will not be able to assess accurately the impact these measures have on the Council's income until after the end of the financial year 2013/14. Due to this uncertainty we have not budgeted for any extra income from either Rates retention or New Homes Bonus in future years.
There are some areas of the Council services that we are examining to see if further resources could prove beneficial and one such area is homelessness. Members of the Council will all be well aware of empty properties that require renovation and could be put to good use for homeless people and indeed we are working with other organisations to help people to be rehoused. We are minded to set aside a reserve from this year's addition to General Reserve that would assist us to bring sound houses back into occupation. Further details will be brought to Council as this policy is developed.
Despite these difficulties and uncertainties I am able to announce that there are some very positive measures in this budget to benefit the residents of South Ribble. These include:
• Significant investment in community safety measures including £30,000 for CCTV cameras, funding for domestic violence services and the continued funding of PCSOs for the Borough
• A major new commitment to improving parks and open spaces to the extent of £100,000 per annum for the next four years
• Regeneration schemes for Longton, Leyland and Penwortham
• The freezing of car park charges to help support local businesses
Despite the cuts in our grant and even after the announcement of further major investment, I am proposing this evening that the South Ribble Council Tax is frozen for 2013/14 meaning that we have frozen this tax in three of the last four years.
In addition to the investments mentioned above we are also setting out our capital expenditure proposals. These are budgeted figures that indicate potential expenditure but can and will be altered if circumstances change.
The main thrust of the proposals for capital expenditure is that such investment produces a return or prevents substantial revenue funding having to be found in the future.
I note that Councillor Tomlinson is questioning the capital budgets for the civic centre but I have to emphasise that these are budgetary considerations. For example there is an ongoing review of the catering services at present and the results of this review will impact upon any capital decisions.
It is interesting to note however that the works carried out on the windows of this building have produced huge savings from the original budgeted costs and capital expenditure can have significant benefits.
Mr Mayor, I would like to thank and commend the very hard working and committed staff of this Council. There have been many changes in many areas over the past few years but they have taken each and every one in their stride. I wish to thank Michael Fisher and his team for their efforts in collecting and recording the many millions of pounds that this Council is responsible for collecting and distributing. I would also like to give special thanks this year to Susan Guinness, Garry Barclay and their teams in accounting and assurance.
Susan, Garry and their colleagues have overseen and implemented the massively effective shared services unit with Chorley, have put into effect a shared computer process for two authorities, have introduced the very complicated international accounting standards and still saved in excess of £500,000 per annum. Quite some achievements I am sure you will agree.
Last but not least, again, I thank Mike Nuttall, the senior management team, my Cabinet colleagues and fellow Councillors. I believe that not just the figures but also the standards of service demonstrate the very hard work and dedication that is given for very little financial reward.
Mr Mayor, at this point I would like to move the approval of the statutory resolution, a draft of which has been circulated with the agenda. This resolution incorporates the tax relating to the County Council, the Police Authority, the combined Fire Authority and as appropriate the taxes relating to the parish and town councils in this area. I would also like to move the recommendations under item 2 of the Cabinet meeting of 6th February which you will recall were deferred from item 4 on the Council agenda.
I have one further announcement to make this evening and it concerns Localisation of Council tax Support. Members will recall that when we debated this in full Council, I shared the findings of our public consultation where a staggering 80% of responders said that working age claimants should make a contribution towards their Council Tax. They also said we should not increase Council Tax to make up any shortfall. In line with our consultation this Council decided to impose a contribution levy of £3.50 per week and to seek recovery in full.
Since then however the Conservative run Lancashire County Council has announced that because of their financial strategies they are able to cut their share of Council Tax by 2%.
As a caring and prudent Council I have carefully considered the implications of this reduction and I am pleased to conclude that the reduction will be passed on, IN FULL, to those most vulnerable in society.
I hope members will support this unique initiative – I know of no other Council taking such a step – of reducing the amount that working age claimants will pay from £3.50 per week to £2.95 per week. This is a reduction of almost 16%. This Conservative administration is demonstrating unambiguous commitment to supporting vulnerable people by passing on the reduction in its entirety.
For the record the revised levy works out at 41 pence per week for South Ribble Council’s share.
I therefore propose an amendment this evening as follows:
"That the South Ribble Borough Council's localisation of Council Tax Support Scheme, formally adopted by the Council on 23rd January 2013 (minute 77) be amended as follows: “That the flat rate reduction of £3.50 be reduced to £2.95 per week to be sought from working age claimants and to take effect from 1st April 2013”.
Mr Mayor, I put forward the budget this evening realising that there are areas of risk that remain unanswered. The Business Rates retention scheme is still in draft and on the horizon we have a Comprehensive Spending review in 2014, a triennial Pensions Review and the whole gamut of welfare reform. However, the financial results speak for themselves when the performance of this Authority is examined. We are financially sound with good levels of reserves, we are showing our commitment to investment and are freezing Council Tax yet again. In this time of severe economic difficulty we have all to work together to maintain the best possible services and standards for our residents. This we continue to do and with this budget I look forward to the support of the Council and the people of South Ribble.
Thank you.