Agenda item

Councillor A Azad, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Financial Planning and Policy, introduced the report outlining the proposed General Fund, Service Plans, Budgets and Prudential Indicators 2018-19.  Attention was drawn to two impactful measures in the report.  Firstly, the Government’s announcement that Surrey had been included as one of the ten new Business Rates pilot areas for 2018-19.  It was noted that the pilot would mean that a greater proportion of Business Rates income would be retained in Surrey.  Secondly, the Executive was informed that the Government had increased the Council Tax Referendum limit from 2% to 3%.

Councillor Azad reported that the General Fund Budget proposed an increase in Council Tax of 2.98% for 2018-19 which resulted in a Band D Council Tax figure for 2018-19 of £233.46 or an increase of £6.75 per annum at Band D.

The Executive welcomed the news that the provisional Government settlement, announced on 19 December 2017, had not introduced any significant changes to the New Homes Bonus (NHB) scheme.  It was noted that the grant awarded to the Council for 2018-19 was £1.386m.

Councillor Azad advised the Executive that there was currently no resolution to the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) and that, going forward, reviews would be taking place.

Following a question regarding cost pressures on the Council’s pay budget, the Portfolio Holder reported that £575k of the costs had been included in the budget resulting in a pressure within the salary budgets of £710k.  The Executive was advised that the pay budgets always included a vacancy management savings target which reflected that the full staffing structure was never in place, and noted that there were also routine vacancies.  The Portfolio Holder explained that the position would require careful management during the year and highlighted that employee costs were reported monthly in the Green Book.

Following a question regarding meeting homelessness needs as the Sheerwater development progressed, the Executive was informed that the development would be a slow managed progression over approximately 113 months.  Councillor C S Kemp, Portfolio Holder for Housing, confirmed that managing homelessness was a key priority and reported that Officers were looking at new ways of providing temporary accommodation in the Borough as well as undertaking work regarding the Homelessness Reduction Act.

Recommended to Council

That  (i)    the Revenue Estimates and Human Resource requirements for 2018/19 be approved;

          (ii)   a Band D Council Tax for the Borough of Woking for 2018/19 of £233.46 be approved;

          (iii)  the Finance Director, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, be authorised to approve the terms of the Surrey Business Rates Pilot on behalf of the Council and to sign the Memorandum of Understanding;

          (iv)  the Prudential Indicators at Appendix 3 to the report be approved, subject to any changes arising from consideration of the Investment Programme, revenue budgets and Final Government Settlement;

          (v)   the Service Plans for 2018/19 at Appendix 4 to the report be approved; and

          (vi)  the Food Safety Plan and Health and Safety Plan at Appendix 4a and 4b to the report be approved.

Reason: To recommend that Council approves the resources necessary to implement its Service Plans and objectives and raises the necessary revenue through the determination of Council Tax for 2018/19.