The Section 151 Officer presented the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2016-17 to 2019-20, which included a financial forecast for 2016-20, a detailed draft revenue budget for 2016-17 and a Capital Programme for 2016-17 to 2025-26. She added that the the Corporate Plan and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) identified the

Council’s service and resource priorities for the next four financial years, with particular focus on 2016-17.

 

The Section 151 Officer reported that the Council reviews its Corporate Plan each year to ensure it continues to reflect the Council’s corporate improvement priorities, commitments and performance

indicators.  Continuing austerity and demands on public services would require the Council to operate differently in the coming years and against that background three new corporate priorities have been developed for 2016-2020. 

 

The Section 151 Officer reported that in his 2015 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer reported a £27 billion improvement in the UK’s public finances, and set out spending plans designed to move the UK government’s expected borrowing from £73.5 billion in 2015-16 to a forecast £10.1 billion surplus by 2019-20. She added however that his subsequent

speech on 7 January 2016 in Wales sounded a much more cautious note –

highlighting the risks and headwinds of global instability, volatile commodity prices and referencing the “stop-start recoveries” experienced by other economies in the western world in recent years.  She stated that against that background the UK Government Settlement to the Welsh Government

for 2016-17 is a cash increase of 0.85%. There was no settlement at this point for future years.

 

The Section 151 Officer reported to Council that in the provisional Local Government Settlement, Councils across Wales received an

average -1.4% reduction in Aggregate External Finance (AEF) for 2016-17 (after allowing for transfers into and out of the Settlement). Bridgend’s reduction was -1.2% (£2.301 million), but that figure included a requirement to protect school budgets equivalent to 1% above the change in the Welsh Government’s Revenue Budget (£1.578 million or 1.85%) as well as notional additional funding for social services pressures.   On 11 February 2016, officers received an updated provisional settlement figure

(based on latest data) which provided only an additional £7,000 for 2016-17

(revised reduction £2.294 million). The Final Local Government Settlement was published on 2 March 2016, and was voted upon on 9 March 2016. There were no changes that needed to be reported to Council verbally as a result of this final settlement.

 

The Section 151 Officer advised Council that the Minister has given no indication of the future allocations for 2017-18 onwards, but in view of current economic and fiscal projections and in the absence of other information the MTFS set out a most likely scenario predicated on an assumption that AEF would reduce by -3.2% for 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. Based on those assumptions the total recurrent reductions required from 2016-17 to 2019-20 amount to £35.531 million.

 

The Section 151 Officer stated that the full picture on specific grants was not yet clear, but the draft settlement included information on a number of changes to the level of grants at an all Wales level which impacted on the Council’s resources, specifically:

 

· The Outcome Agreement Grant funding of £1.4 million has been

transferred into the Revenue Support Grant (RSG).

· A reduction in the Single Environment Grant across Wales. The actual reduction to Bridgend is 4.4% or £127,000.

· A reduction in the Families First grant of 16.7% across Wales. The actual reduction to Bridgend is 11.7%, or £223,000.

 

The Section 151 Officer stated that the Regional Collaboration Fund ends on 31 March 2016, but the Intermediate Care Fund will increase from £20 million in 2015-16 to £50 million across Wales for 2016-17. The Fund had been allocated by the Welsh Government to the NHS, but it was provided to support greater integration with local authorities.

 

The overall projected position as at 31 December 2015 was a net under spend of £1.165 million, comprising £602,000 net under spend on Directorates and £563,000 under spend on corporate budgets. 

 

The development of the MTFS 2016-17 to 2019-20 had been led by Cabinet and Corporate Management Board (CMB) and had taken into account the views of auditors, overview and scrutiny committees and issues arising in 2015-16, underpinned by the ongoing aim to embed a culture of medium term financial planning closely aligned with corporate planning. The Section 151 Officer added that the implementation of the MTFS would continue to be led by Cabinet and CMB, supported by financial and performance data. The Council would seek to ensure that it was widely understood by internal stakeholders (Members, employees and Unions) and external stakeholders (citizens, businesses and partners). As well as linking explicitly to the Council’s corporate priorities, the MTFS also linked to other internal resource strategies such as the Workforce Plan, the ICT Strategy, the Treasury Management Strategy, the Asset Management Plan and the Council’s Transformation Programme. 

 

“ShapingBridgend’s Future” an eight week consultation was undertaken during October and November 2015 and included an online survey, community engagement workshops, social media debates, community engagement stands and a meeting with third sector organisations. Members had the opportunity to take part in a budget workshop similar to the public engagement events. The results have been presented in a separate Cabinet report and are therefore not detailed in the report.  She added that 11 of the 12 budget reduction proposals put forward received majority support, with the weakest support for reductions in highway maintenance, which received 48%. A full list was detailed in the report.  The Section 151 Officer reported that in addition to the public consultation, Cabinet and CMB had been working with the Budget Research and Evaluation Panel over the last six months to facilitate the budget planning process. The Draft budget report approved by Cabinet in January had also been scrutinised by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees resulting in a report from the Corporate Resources and Improvement (CRI) Committee. Cabinet had considered the CRI Committee’s recommendations and a response to these are provided in the report.

 

The Section 151 Officer reported that as well as consideration of future income and expenditure scenarios, the MTFS provided a set of clear principles which drive the budget and spending decisions over 2016-2020 and which Members and others can examine and judge the Council’s financial performance against. The Secyion 151 Officer identified how Principle 8 had been expanded to include a wish for the Council Fund balance to reach 2.7% of Gross Revenue Expenditure by 2019-20 and Principle 12 was expanded to incorporate a MTFS Budget Reduction Contingency.

 

The Section 151 Officer added that the MTFS planning assumptions for 2017-20 were based on an annual reduction in AEF of -3.2% and an assumed increase in council tax of 3.9% for 2017-18, 4.2% for 2018-19 and 4.5% for 2019-20 recognising the on-going uncertainty around funding in future years. The MTFS has been developed taking into account possible resource envelope scenarios with a Best, Most Likely and Worst Scenario.

 

The Section 151 Officer stated that the MTFS assumes that Directorates will absorb within existing budgets any non-contractual inflationary pressures up to the prevailing CPI rate (currently 0.3%).  However, there were a number of foreseen pressures that the Council would have to

manage over the MTFS period. The exact amounts needed to fund them may not be known so assumptions were made in the MTFS for:

 

• Projected demographic changes;
• Inflationary uplifts to support specific contractual commitments;
• Inflation for energy costs based on notification of known increases and projected forward pricing;

• Known impact of national policies and legislation not accompanied by commensurate funding e.g. Welfare Reform Bill; Social Services and

Wellbeing Act; school budgets’ protection; Living Wage; and auto

Enrolment.

• Increases in employer pension contributions;
• The removal of the National Insurance Contribution rebate as a result of the introduction of the single tier state pension in April 2016; and
• Minimum increases in fees and charges of the statutory minimum or CPI at prevailing rate, currently +0.3%) plus 1%.

 

For 2016-17, the MTFS included an additional £6.451 million for the above known pressures plus £1.4 million for the transfer in of the Outcome Agreement Grant. In addition, each year consideration was given to any inescapable unforeseen Directorate pressures that cannot be accommodated within existing budgets.

 

The Section 151 Officer stated that Table 4 within the report detailed how much the Council needed to find within existing budgets to help meet the pressures it faced over the next four years, and based on the AEF assumptions in Table 3 of the report and assumed Council Tax increases of 3.9% in 2016-17 and 2017-18 and then 4.2% in 2018-19 and 4.5% in 2019-2020. Cabinet and CMB are working together to develop plans to meet the most likely scenario above. In the event of the worst case materialising in any year, the budget shortfall would have to be met from the Council Fund and or a further increase in Council Tax while additional budget reduction plans could be developed.   She added should the best case scenario arise then Cabinet and CMB would look to reduce the impact on services as well as Council Tax.

 

The Section 151 Officer advised Members that the 2016-17 proposals had been amended since the Draft Budget report to reflect the £18,000 reduction to the cut in the third sector funding proposal (CS1).  A number of proposals for 2016-17 onwards required further information and analysis and so were not included separately in the report. The Section 151 Officer stated that Cabinet and CMB have commited to try to find at least 50% of the budget reductions through smarter use of resources rather than by cutting the quality and level of services and Table 6 confirms that 66% of the required budget reductions will be met through efficiency measures.

 

The Section 151 Officer advised that delivering £35.5 million of budget reductions would result in a smaller Council because around two thirds of the Council’s net revenue budget was required to meet the pay costs of its employees. She stated that efforts were continuing to manage the inevitable workforce reduction by holding vacancies, redeployment, early retirements and voluntary redundancies (VER), but some compulsory redundancies would continue to be necessary. Over the MTFS period, the Council would need to ensure there were sufficient funds in the corporate redundancy budget and service reconfiguration earmarked reserve to meet VER costs.

 

The Section 151 Officer advised Members that the Council’s Risk Assessment identified the key corporate risks and mitigating actions and was included as Schedule B to the report. She added that the risks had been taken into accountin the preparation of the MTFS and where there were identifiable financialimplications they had been provided for either within the budget or earmarkedreserves. Where the financial risks were not clear, such as the costs associated withLocal Government Reorganisation, the risk was covered by the Council Fund.

 

She informed Members of the following.  The net budget for 2016-17 would be funded by:

Net Budget Funding                   £                     %

Revenue Support Grant     145,232,718       56.98

Non Domestic Rates          42,282,679         16.59

Council Tax Income            67,375,793        26.43

 

Total                                   254,891,190      100%

 

The Section 151 Officer stated that the implications in terms of the Council Tax increase 2016-17 (excluding Police & Crime Commissioner for South Wales and Community Council precepts) were shown in Table 10 of the report and detailed below

.

2015-16  - Average Band D - £1,249.07

2016-17 -  Average Band D - £1,297.78

%  Increase 3.9%

Weekly Increase £0.94

 

The Section 151 Officer stated that the Delegated Schools’ Budget has been completely protected from the reductions that other Directorates had to find.

 

The Section 151 Officer added that the final schedule of unavoidable pressures was attached at Appendix B to the report and presented a number of recurrent and one off pressures, totalling £2.316 million.  The

January Draft Budget report explained that budget pressures identified at that time were subject to change before the Final Budget. She advised that the main changes were:

· The removal of the pressure relating to the provision of social care in the Parc Prison as Welsh Government grant had been agreed.

 

· A reduction in the funding requirement for implementation of the Welsh Language Standards, which reflects the forecast cost of implementing the majority of the standards due to take effect in 2016-17. The pressure did not take into account the financial implications of a number of standards for which the Council was preparing an appeal on the basis that they are unreasonable or disproportionate. The financial implications of these were significant and unaffordable and should the appeal be unsuccessful the Council would have to meet the costs in the short term from a combination of corporate contingency (normally reserved for emergencies such as extreme weather events) or the Council Fund until recurrent funding could be identified either from budget reductions elsewhere or Council Tax increases.

 

· A new pressure of £1 million (one-off funding) to finance part of the capital grant required to deliver the provision of two Extra Care Housing schemes.

 

The Section 151 Officer explained that in total for 2016-17, the recurring pressures total £1.235 million. The one-off pressures total £1.081 million and funding for this would be retained in corporate budgets and allocated to services as and when they were needed during 2016-17.

 

She explained to Council that the recurrent budget associated with the one off pressures had been included in the 2017-18 allowance for budget pressures, which had reduced the level of budget reductions required in that year by £1 million. 

 

Budget reduction proposals totalling £7.477 million had been identified from service and corporate budgets to achieve a balanced budget which was detailed in Appendix C to the report.  As a minimum, income from fees and charges would be increased by at least CPI (at the prevailing rate, currently 0.3%) plus 1%, subject to rounding, or in line with statutory requirements. She added that schedules of fees and charges would be reported separately, as usual, under Delegated Powers. New charges or charges that had been included in the 2016-17 budget and are above the general increase are shown in Appendix D.

 

The Section 151 Officer advised that a corporate income generation policy had been developed during the year which was included in Appendix E to the report for approval.

 

The Section 151 Officer stated that Appendix F detailed the Directorate Base Budgets for 2016-17. She added that the MTFS supported the delivery of the Council’s corporate priorities and Appendix G provides an analysis of budgets to support Corporate Improvement Priorities and cores services and statutory functions.

 

The Section 151 Officer referred Members to Appendix H the Council’s Reserves and Balances Protocol which sets out the principles used to assess the adequacy of reserves, the rationale for establishing them and the arrangements for monitoring them. She stated that in accordance with the Protocol, a review of the Council’s financial risks, pressures and reserves was undertaken at period 6 and period 9 in 2015-16. She advised that Appendix I to the report setsout the forecast movement (as at 1 March 2016) in the Council’s Earmarked Reserves and the Council Fund by the end of 2015-16 and 2016-17.  An assessment was currently being undertaken on the business case for making acontribution to the Pension Fund to meet outstanding superannuation liabilities as ameans of reducing pressure on the Council’s revenue budget in the future. No allowance has been made for this in the movement of reserves forecast.

 

The Section 151 Officer advised that Appendix J to the report set out the proposed Capital Programme for the period 2016-17 to 2025-26. The Welsh Government final capital settlement for 2016-17 provided General Capital Funding (GCF) for the Council of £6.296 million in 2016-17, of which £3.914 million was un-hypothecated supported borrowing and the remainder £2.382 million was General Capital Grant. No indicative allocations had been provided for 2017-18, so for now it was assumed that the level of funding would remain constant for years after 2016-17, but this would be indicative only.  The Section 151 Officer added that the Programme was last revised in October 2015. Since then a review had been underway to identify the Council’s capital investment requirements for 2016-2025, compared to available capital, against the following four criteria:

 

§ Link to proposed new corporate priorities;

§ Level of risk associated with investing (in terms of impact on service delivery,

ability to meet MTFS budget reductions, and prevention of building failure

and closure);

§ Budgetary provision for any additional revenue costs arising from the scheme;

§ Payback period (where appropriate).

 

The Section 151 Officer referred to Table 13 which included the schemes propsed to be included within the Capital Programme 2016-17 onwards. A number of the schemes are subject to Cabinet approval of business cases and/or confirmation of external funding and will only proceed once these arrangements are secured.

 

Subsequent to further funding becoming available, additional projects may be added to the capital programme during the next financial year. However, this will be subject to retaining a contingency amount of capital receipts to meet any unforeseen risks.  The Capital Programme also contained a number of fixed annual allocations that were met from the total general capital funding for the Council. These annual allocations had been reviewed as part of the capital planning process and it was proposed that

they remained at current levels for 2016-17, as follows:

 

• Highways and Transportation Capitalised Repairs – given the backlog of repairs and maintenance of highways it was recommended that the annual allocation be maintained at the current level;

 

• Disabled Facilities Grants and Housing Renewal Schemes – Cabinet agreed in September 2015 to amend the Private Sector Housing Renewal and Disabled Adaptations Policy, which the funding supported, to amend two existing grants (Empty Homes Grant and Assistance to RSLs), and to include a new grant – the Home Security Grant to assist people suffering from domestic abuse. It was proposed to keep the allocations at existing levels; There had been slippage against this budget in recent years, due to delays in Occupational Therapy referrals, so the service was cautious not to reduce the budget in case it could not meet the cost of referrals;

 

• Strategic Regeneration Fund (SRF) allocations are committed to projects up to 2020-21 to provide matched funding for the Welsh Government’s Structural Funding Programme 2014-20. As outlined in the report to Council in July 2014 this provides flexibility in the Capital Programme to enable the Council to take advantage of and maximise external funding opportunities,     mitigate funding shortfalls which can occur between grant bid and offers stages and provide some contingency for additional spending pressures on regeneration projects.

 

• Minor works – The Capital Programme currently includes an allocation of £1.1 million to tackle the backlog of capital minor repairs and maintenance works in the Council’s existing buildings and non-buildings infrastructure, as well as energy management, fire prevention and DDA capital schemes.  There was also a £600,000 revenue budget available to meet revenue repairs and maintenance. The revenue budget was being reduced by £150,000 as part of the MTFS following rationalisation of administrative assets, so it was proposed to maintain the capital allocation at this level. The Corporate Property Group was responsible for allocating this funding to projects during the financial year.

 

•  Since 2008-09 Town and Community Councils had been able to apply for match funding from the Council for local projects and as a result a number of worthwhile community projects had been developed. In October 2015, Council agreed to increase the funding in the Capital Programme to £100,000 to support Community Asset Transfer (CAT).

 

The Section 151 Officer stated that in addition, it was recommended that two additional fixed annual allocations be included to meet the on-going costs of Bridgelink / Telecare equipment replacement, and street lighting / bridge infrastructure replacement, covering street lighting column replacement, bridge erosion and scour protection. This brought the total commitment to 80.53% of the 2016-17 General Capital Funding. 

 

The Section 151 Officer explained the largest project in relation to priority two was the proposed capital grant funding to support the creation of two Extra Care schemes in the County Borough. Once operational, these would provide an alternative for service users who have the potential to remain independent and therefore reduce the need for more traditional models of care such as residential care.

 

The Section 151 Officer explained that the Schools’ Modernisation and Investment Programme formed a cornerstone of the corporate priority, making smarter use of resources. School modernisation and school improvement complement each other, and well established collaborative arrangements are taking forward strategies to enhance teaching and learning and school leadership, supported by state of the art buildings and the innovative use of new technology.  She added that the Welsh Government had committed to fund £22.475 million of the total costs (currently estimated at £45.510 million) for Band A priority projects, through a combination of capital grant and the Local Government Borrowing initiative, with the balance met from Council resources. Council had  agreed that this would be met from core funding allocations of £5 million, anticipated S106 funding of £5.288 million and projected receipts from the sale of schools and other sites, and other contributions, of £12.747 million as detailed in paragraph 4.58  of the  report

 

The Section 151 Officer explained that the Capital Financing Strategy was underpinned by the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy. The two key principles used in the Capital Financing Strategy were:

 

1. Decisions on the treatment of surplus assets are based on an

assessment of the potential contribution to the revenue budget and the

Capital programme.

 

2. Prudential borrowing is only used to support the Capital Programme where it is affordable and sustainable within the Council’s overall

borrowing limits and the revenue budget over the long term.

 

The Section 151 Officer informed Members that the Council estimated that around £21 million could be generated as part of the enhanced disposals programme, with circa £9.3 million already delivered (anticipated to reach £10 million by the end of 2015-16) and circa £11 million of capital receipts to be generated over the next three years 2016-17 to 2018-19, of which £4 million was expected to be realised in 2016-17. Of the £21 million, £8.8

million relates to school buildings and land vacated through the 21st Century Schools Programme, to be used as match funding for the programme. It includes receipts anticipated from the sale of surplus sites within the County Borough.  Receipts were subject to the exchange of contracts, so it was prudent not to commit them until the Authority had a contractual agreement.

 

The Section 151 Officer stated that Prudential Borrowing totalling £41.5 million was approved by Council on 25 February 2015, which included £5.6 million of Local Government Borrowing Initiative (LGBI) funding towards the costs of the 21st Century Schools Programme.  She added that the total prudential borrowing taken out by the end of 2016-17 was estimated to be

£41.745 million, which took into account additional fleet purchases and LGBI funding for street lighting, highways and the 21st Century Schools Programme, of which approximately £32 million was still outstanding.

 

The Section 151 Officer advised the Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities (fully revised 2011) required the Council to set a number of Treasury Management Indicators and report them within the Treasury Management Strategy. The Council was required, prior to the start of the financial year, to approve the Treasury Management and Investment Strategies for 2016-17, and the Treasury Management and Prudential Indicators for the period 2016-17 to 2019-20. She advised Members that these were included in the Treasury Management Strategy 2016-17, and attached as Appendix K to the report. The indicators either summarise the expected activity or introduce limits upon the activity, reflect the underlying capital programme and provide assurance that capital investment decisions are affordable, prudent and sustainable. 

 

The Section 151 Officer  advised that the report outlined the financial issues that Council was requested to consider as part of the 2016-17 to 2019-20 MTFS. The Council’s Chief Financial Officer was required to report annually on the robustness of the level of reserves. The level of Council reserves was sufficient to protect the Council in light of unknown demands or emergencies and current funding levels. She stated that it must be emphasised that the biggest financial risk the Council was exposed to at the present time related to the uncertainty of Welsh Government funding, the increasing difficulty in the delivery of planned budget reductions as well as the identification of further proposals and the financial uncertainties surrounding the implementation of local government re-organisation. Therefore, it was imperative that the Council Fund balance was managed in accordance with the MTFS Principle 8 and essential that revenue service expenditure and capital expenditure was contained within the identified budgets. The budget included estimates which took into account circumstances and events which exist or were reasonably foreseeable at the time of preparing the budget. The budget had been prepared following consultation with Members, the School Budget Forum and service managers. Subject to the risks identified in the body of the report the MTFS provided a firm basis for managing the Council’s resources for the year 2016-17 and beyond.

 

The Cabinet Member Resources gave thanked the Section 151 Officer for all her help and support she had given him since he took over the Resources portfolio. 

 

The Cabinet Member Resources stated that in order to deliver the Council’s proposed new improvement priorities as set out in the Corporate Plan, meet its statutory responsibilities and at the same time be attentive to the needs of our communities, the Council must take a very proactive approach to managing its resources.  He added that there was a need to strike an appropriate balance between service provision and the financial impact on householders through the level of council tax increase.

 

The Cabinet Member Resources stated that in terms of the Medium Term Financial Strategy, the Council continued to face significant financial challenges and as a Council were still having to make difficult decisions as a result on the budget, and the budget reduction proposals presented in the MTFS were in line with the responses that the Council received.

 

The Cabinet Member Resources stated that the Authority had tried to limit the impact of budget reductions on our citizens by rigorously pursuing efficiency measures, but whilst the provisional local government settlement by the Welsh Government was better than anticipated the Authority still needs to make budget reductions in the order of £35.5 million over the next four years. Therefore the Cabinet Member Resources moved the recommendations in the report. 

 

The Deputy Leader stated that investing in schools was investing in our children’s future.  He stated that as part of the £45.5 million investment in the Schools Modernisation Programme he was delighted that there would be two new schools built in the Garw Valley, a new school built in Brynmenyn and a commitment to fund a new Primary School for Pencoed to be situated on one site as it currently was spread over three sites.  He added that the doors had already opened at the new Coety Primary School with parents being extremely pleased with its new facilities.  He  added that there would be further investment for improving special needs facilities throughout the Borough. 

 

The Deputy Leader concluded that he was privileged to have worked with the Section 151 Officer when he was Cabinet Member for finance and that she was always committed and professional in her work.  He thanked her for all of her support that she had given him over the years and wished her well for the future.

 

The Cabinet Member Adult Social Care and Health and Wellbeing stated that these were unprecedented times when it came to finance.  He stated that there was huge pressures on Social Services in Bridgend but they were more than capable of rising to the challenge and they had already delivered efficiency savings where needed.  He added that the area was responsible for looking after more and more vulnerable people with less funding but was confident they would deliver as there were now various channels of help  now available to residents, and increased support through organisations pooling their resources through working collaboratively.

 

The Cabinet Member Regeneration and Economic Development thanked the Section 151 Officer for her expertise in guiding the Authority through a difficult time financially.  He also added thanks to all Officers and Scrutiny Members for their systematic and fair way of delivering the budget through continued reductions imposed on the Authority.  He added that investment in people and infrastructure was essential to make Bridgend a good place to live, work and visit. 

 

The Cabinet Member Childrens Social Services and Equalities stated that Looked After Children was a huge challenge for the Authority but thanks to new early intervention strategies the number of looked after children had been safely reduced from 412 this time last year to 378 this year.  She added that she was also pleased to see the Capital Programme include a scheme to rationalise assets at Heronsbridge School to enable residential provision for children with disabilities on a 52 week a year basis, to enable children to stay within Bridgend rather than being placed in establishments far away from the family home. 

 

The Cabinet Member Communities added his thanked to the Section 151 Officer for her commitment in delivering the budget and wished her well for the future.  He added that the Communities budget would be investing £21million in the Borough in 2016-17.  He stated that the Bridge Strengthening in the Ogmore Valley would be very welcome by all residents in the area.

 

Members echoed thanks to the Section 151 Officer for her hard work and dedication to delivering this years’ budget and recognised the difficult decisions that had to be made during the process.  Members wished her well in her new role.  The Section 151 Officer thanked all members and Officers for their kind comments and thanked them for the opportunity she had been given to work in a fun and challenging environment. 

 

A Member raised concern at the 3.9% increase in the Council Tax and the planned increases for the next four years and stated that those members of the public on a fixed income would be hit hard by the increases and wished to raise awareness of the difficulties that people in the County Borough would be facing. 

 

The Leader recognised that many people would find the increases difficult but stated that Council Tax could not be lowered or the money would need to be found from elsewhere within the budget.  He added that it was an unfortunate position to be in but the increases were needed if it were retain vital public services.

 

A Member stated that he supported the budget with a heavy heart as no one wanted to see reductions in public services.   He added that whilst the reductions to the Budget were not favourable they could have been worse had it not been for some protection from Welsh Government.  He thanked Officers and Members of the Cabinet for taking on board feedback from Members of Scrutiny Committees as after feedback from them, approximately £1.207million reduction to Highway services had been reduced to £500,000; a £229,000 reduction to subsidised bus routes was now £15,000 and a £33,000 reduction to voluntary services had been reduced to £15,000.

 

A Member referred to the review of Lifeguard services and asked if any partnership discussions had taken place with local lifeguard clubs.  The Cabinet Member Regeneration and Economic Development stated that local clubs were supporting the move and many of the lifeguards that work at the clubs are applying for positions with the RNLI.  The Corporate Director Wellbeing added that consultation with the local groups had already begun and they were all supportive of the move

 

A Member thanked the Cabinet for the support of the investment for the new Extra Care facilities in the Valleys Gateway and Maesteg, he added that they were much needed with an ever ageing population and an excellent traditional way to care for people. 

 

RESOLVED: 

 

That Council approved the MTFS 2016-17 to 2019-20 including the 2016-17 revenue budget, the Capital Programme 2016-17 to 2025-26 and the Treasury Management Strategy 2016-17.  Council also approved the following specific elements:

 

• The MTFS 2016-17 to 2019-20

 

• The Net Budget Requirement of £254,891,190 in 2016-17.

 

• A Band D Council Tax for Bridgend County Borough Council of £1,297.78 for 2016-17 (Table 10).

 

• The 2016-17 budgets as allocated in accordance with Table 8 in paragraph 4.23.

 

• The Capital Programme 2016-17 to 2025-26 (Appendix J).

 

• The Treasury Management Strategy 2016-17 and Treasury Management and Prudential Indicators 2016-17 to 2019-20 (Appendix K).

 

• The Corporate Income Generation and Charging Policy (Appendix E)