ANGUS COUNCIL
MINUTE of SPECIAL MEETING of ANGUS COUNCIL held in the Town and County Hall, Forfar on Thursday 14 February 2002 at 5.00 pm.
Present: Provost Mrs FRANCES E DUNCAN OBE, Councillors IAN ANGUS, BILL CROWE, FRANK ELLIS, JACK GIBB, ALISTAIR GRAY, JOHN HENDERSON, ALEX KING, THE Hon R J LESLIE MELVILLE, DAVID LUMGAIR, IAN MACKINTOSH, BRIAN MILNE, JOY MOWATT, PETER MURPHY, ROB MURRAY, ROBERT MYLES, PETER NIELD, GEORGE NORRIE MBE, HELEN OSWALD, KITTY RITCHIE, BILL ROBERTON, RON SCRIMGEOUR, DAVID SELFRIDGE, RICHARD SPEIRS and SHEENA WELSH.
Apologies: Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Councillors STEWART McGLYNN, GLENNIS MIDDLETON, BILL MIDDLETON and SANDY WEST.
Provost Mrs FRANCES E DUNCAN OBE, in the Chair.
1. MINUTES
The minutes of the undernoted special meetings of Committees, held earlier today, were submitted and noted.
(a) Finance and Information Technology Committee.
(b) Education Committee.
(c) Environmental and Consumer Protection Committee.
(d) Recreation and Cultural Services Committee.
(e) Housing Committee.
(f) Contract Services Committee.
(g) Social Work Committee.
(h) Economic Development Committee.
(i) Roads Committee.
(j) Planning and Transport Policy Committee.
(k) Personnel and Property Services Committee.
(l) Policy and Resources Committee.
2. REVENUE BUDGET 2002/2003 SETTING OF THE COUNCIL TAX
There was submitted Report No 202/02 by the Director of Finance explaining the detailed steps which had already been taken, and the further steps which still required to be taken, with regard to the setting of the Council Tax charge for Angus Council in respect of the financial year 2002/2003.
The Report reminded members of the background surrounding the preparation of the Revenue Budget for 2002/2003 and referred to previous Reports (766/01, 1380/01, 151/02 and 198/02) which had highlighted that Angus Council again faced difficulties in delivering its Revenue Budget for 2002/2003 within the resources anticipated to be available. Departmental cuts totalling £1.749m had been necessary to balance the budget. The Council's net estimated expenditure for 2002/2003 (excluding contributions to/from General Fund Balances and Special Funds) was to be £161.031m after removal of the £1.749m of proposed departmental cuts, which, after deducting £130.485m Aggregate External Finance (AEF) left a balance of £30.546m to be funded from Council Tax charges before considering the required contributions to or from the Council's Funds and Balances.
The remainder of the Report outlined the main financial considerations and the steps necessary to set the Council Tax charge. The setting of the Council Tax effectively represented the conclusion of the General Fund Revenue Budget process. Final budgets for each department, based on the decisions made at this meeting, would be issued in the near future to allow the budget monitoring process to begin early in the new financial year.
Councillor King, Convener of the Finance and Information Technology Committee, expressed his thanks for the support and co-operation of all of the Council staff involved in the preparation of the Revenue Budget.
In his speech, he put the Council's 2002/2003 Council Tax proposals into context by outlining the salient points regarding the Scottish Executive's grant allocations, spending restrictions and Angus Council budget issues. He referred to the fact that £7.201m from the Scottish Executive's grant allocation was hypothecated or ring-fenced for new burdens and that the real increase in Angus Council's grant was only £2.082m which equated to a real disposable increase of only 1.8%. Grant support would still only cover some 80% of the Council's spending with the balance being paid by the Council Tax payer. This ratio produced an unfair gearing effect, which meant that for every 1% increase in the Council's budget, the Council Tax payer was faced with a 5% increase in Council Tax. Inflationary pressures for existing services in the current year amounted to some 3% or £4.679m. This figure did not include the £1.437m which departments had absorbed in their budgets or the £0.401m of new or unavoidable service growth. Adding all these figures together showed that Angus Council was facing increased costs of some £6.517m or 4% of its budget. Given that the Scottish Executive had only allowed £2.082m to meet these increased costs, Angus Council had had to look to a combination of absorbing costs, cutting budgets and increasing the Council Tax.
Councillor King criticised the Scottish Executive for having done little to address the historic disparity in both spending levels and AEF grant levels between high spending urban Councils and the low spending rural Councils. This disparity was now manifesting itself in the form of lower Council Tax increases being set by high spending urban Councils while, on the other hand, the more prudent rural Councils were starved of grants and were being forced to increase Council Tax by much higher amounts, merely to be able to maintain existing services. It was clearly Scottish Executive policy therefore, to force the rural Councils to increase Council Tax at an ever increasing rate so as to bring rural Council Tax closer to the Scottish average.
THEREAFTER, COUNCILLOR KING, SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR SELFRIDGE, MOVED THAT THIS COUNCIL:
- APPROVES THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE VARIOUS COMMITTEES IN RESPECT OF THE INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENTAL BUDGETS WHICH GAVE A TOTAL ESTIMATED NET EXPENDITURE FOR 2002/2003 OF £161.031M FOR ANGUS COUNCIL AS SHOWN IN APPENDIX 2 TO REPORT NO 202/02;
-
(ii) APPROVES THE PROPOSED £2.710M NET CONTRIBUTIONS TO/FROM COUNCIL FUNDS AND BALANCES, AS FOLLOWS:
Renewal and Repair Funds £'000
Roads and Transport 1,060
Property 980
Information Technology (IT) 600
Equipment 150
Vehicles and Plant 250
General Fund Balances nil
Insurance Fund 100
Local Capital Fund -430
Total of Contributions 2002/03 2,710
- APPROVES THE PROPOSED 4% LEVEL FOR COUNCIL TAX NON-COLLECTION IN 2002/2003, RESULTING IN A BAND D EQUIVALENT TAX BASE OF 37,748;
- APPROVES THE COUNCIL TAX CALCULATION STATEMENT WHICH HAD BEEN TABLED;
- SETS THE ANGUS COUNCIL BAND D COUNCIL TAX CHARGE FOR 2002/2003 AT £881; AND
- NOTES THAT THE 2002/2003 UNIFIED BUSINESS RATE HAS BEEN PROVISIONALLY SET AT 47.8P IN THE £, BY THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE.
Councillor Nield, seconded by Councillor Myles, moved as an amendment, that this Council:
- changes throughout, estimated net expenditure of £161.031m "before contributions to/from Funds and Balances" to read £161.875m;
- changes any reference to 4% non-collection of Council Tax for the year 2002/2003 to 3%;
-
changes any reference to Departmental cuts of £1.749m to £1.773m, except in Report 202/02,
2. INTRODUCTION, paragraph 3. After the full stop (.) in that paragraph add "After reserving their position until the presentation of the final budget, the opposition has identified further efficiency savings of £24,000 (Report 199/02 Education page 10 Summary of Proposed Cuts add "Withdraw from BT Assist Third Party Payment £24,000"; Page 5, Third Party Payments, change (5) to (29) and 2,365 to 2,341; net expenditure change (859) to (883) and 60,404 to 60,380)".
- changes all references to 96% collection for 2002/2003 to 97%;
- changes any reference to the collection yield from £37,748 to £38,141;
- replaces Appendix 2 to Report 202/02 with new Appendix 2 as tabled;
- approves the base budget "Miscellaneous Other Services" in new Appendix 2 at £2.138m (Report 199/02, page 89, Non-Domestic Rates and Water Charges change Revised Base Budget Submission 2002/2003 from £155,000 to £130,000; change Citizens Advice Bureau from £84,000 to £90,000; and change Net Expenditure from £2.157m to £2.138m);
- replaces (1,573) in Appendix 3 with (1,180);
- replaces page 3 of Report No 199/02 with new Appendix 2 to Report 202/02, as tabled; and
- changes all references to balance to be funded "before contributions to/from Funds and Balances" from £30.546m to £31.390m.
Councillor Welsh declared an interest in item 3 of the amendment (Third Party Payments). She left the meeting and took no part in consideration of the budget.
Councillors Crowe, Gray and Scrimgeour declared an interest in item 7 of the amendment (Citizens Advice Bureau) in respect of their appointment by the Council.
On a vote being taken, the members voted:
For the motion:
Provost Duncan, Councillors Angus, Crowe, Ellis, Gibb, Gray, Henderson, King, Milne, Mowatt, Murray, Oswald, Ritchie, Roberton, Scrimgeour and Selfridge (16).
For the amendment:
Councillors Leslie Melville, Lumgair, Mackintosh, Murphy, Myles, Nield, Norrie and Speirs (8).
The motion was declared carried and the Council resolved accordingly.
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