Minutes:
The Leader of the Council presented report FIN/491 of the Head of Corporate Finance which set out the Budget and level of Council Tax for the year 2020/21. It was noted that the report detailed each of the Revenue, Capital and Housing Revenue Accounts that combine together to formulate ‘The Budget’. In proposing the level of Council Tax for the Financial Year 2020/21, each of those accounts identified had been considered. The proposed Council Tax for 2020/21 was to be increased by 2.43%. It was noted that the report had been considered by the Cabinet on 5 February 2020 and by the Overview and Scrutiny Commission at its meeting on 3 February 2020. In presenting The Budget to the Council, Councillor Lamb also confirmed that he was happy to accept the Conservative Amendment to the proposal (Recommendation 3), which was detailed in item 16 of the Supplemental Agenda, and as such it would be included as a part of the proposed substantive Budget before the Council. The Budget report, with the inclusion of the amendment, was seconded by Councillor P. Smith.
The Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Duncan Crow addressed the meeting and made his budget speech which included thanking Councillor Lamb for accepting the Conservative Amendment to the Budget. The Mayor then opened up the general debate on the proposed Budget report as amended to the Council. Councillors Guidera, Lanzer, Irvine, Burrett, Mullins, Lunnon, Sudan and Jhans spoke during the debate with Councillor Lamb then using his right to reply.
At the conclusion of the discussion, Councillors expressed their thanks and appreciation for the work carried out by Karen Hayes (Head of Corporate Finance), the Finance Division generally and the Budget Advisory Group (BAG).
The Full Council was reminded that regulations required all Councils at their annual budget meetings to adopt the practice of recorded votes - that is, recording in the minutes of the meeting how each member present voted on any decision relating to the Annual Budget and Council Tax. This applied not only to substantive budget motions to agree the Budget and setting Council Taxes, including precepts, but also on any amendments proposed.
Following the conclusion of the debate, the Mayor invited the Head of Legal, Democracy and HR to commence the recorded voting process on the 2020/21 Budget and Council Tax as amended. Thenames of the Councillors voting for and against Recommendation 3 wererecorded as setout below:
Votingin Favour:Councillors: Ayling, A Belben, T Belben, B Burgess, R Burgess, Burrett, Crow, Eade, Fiveash, Flack, Guidera, Hart, Irvine, Jaggard, Jhans, Jones, Lamb, Lanzer, Lunnon, Malik, McAleney, McCarthy, Millar-Smith, Mullins, Mwagale, Peck, Pendlington, Purdy, Rana, Sharma, B Smith, P Smith and Sudan. (33)
VotingAgainst:Councillors: None (0)
Abstentions:Councillors: None (0)
The Mayor declared the recommendation was carried –votes in favour 33, and votesagainst 0 with 0 abstention.
RESOLVED
That the Full Council approves the following items regarding the 2020/21 Budget:
a) the proposed 2020/21 General Fund Budget including savings and growth as set out in section 6 and Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 of the report FIN/491, with the allocation of £49,000 for the proposed permanent Income Generation Officer position, to be amended to be either a one year fixed-term position or a one-off hiring of consultants for this purpose
b) the proposed 2020/21 Housing Revenue Account Budget as set out in section 10 and Appendix 3 of the report FIN/491,,
c) the 2019/20 to 2022/23 Capital Programme and funding as set out in paragraph 11.5 of the report FIN/491,
d) that the Council’s share of Council Tax for 2020/21 be increased by 2.43% from £203.94 to £208.89 for a band D property as set out in paragraphs 5.5.1 and 13.3 of report FIN/491,
e) the Pay Policy Statement for 2020/2021 as outlined in paragraph 16.3 and Appendix 6 of the report FIN/491,