Agenda item

For scrutiny committee to consider the report of the Head of Finance and make any recommendations to Cabinet (paper to follow).

Cabinet member for finance introduced the report.

A budget briefing was run by officers and attended by councillors. Cabinet member thanked Head of Finance and his team, and the Head of Policy and Programmes for their work. Cabinet member was happy to take any comments to Cabinet who would be reviewing the documents the following day.

Comments from the committee were as follows:

·       Level of council tax we charged was low comparatively. Could we take council tax to a referendum as we were in deficit year on year? It was responded that referendums were very expensive and Cabinet member was not aware of successful referendums.

·       The committee were content with the report and its thoroughness.

Committee voted in favour of supporting the recommendations in the report.

Resolved

Scrutiny committee support the following recommendations in the budget report.

Recommendations

1. That Cabinet recommends to Council that it:

·       sets the revenue budget for 2022/23 as set out in appendix A.1 to this report

·       approves the capital programme for 2022/23 to 2026/27 as set out in appendix D.1 to this report, together with the capital programme changes as set out in appendix D.2 and appendix D.3 to this report,

·       sets the council’s prudential limits as listed in appendix E to this report

·        approves the medium-term financial plan to 2026/27 as set out in appendix F to this report.

2. That Cabinet agrees that the cabinet member for finance, in conjunction with the head of finance, may make minor adjustments to this report and the prudential indicators should they prove necessary prior to its submission to Council on 16 February 2022.