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ANGUS COUNCIL

MINUTE of SPECIAL MEETING of the FINANCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE held in the Town and County Hall, Forfar on Thursday 18 February 1999 at 2.00 pm.

Present: Councillors ALEX KING, JACK GIBB, IAN MacKINTOSH, GLENNIS MIDDLETON, WILLIAM MIDDLETON, BRIAN MILNE, STEWART MOWATT, ROBERT MURRAY and DAVID SELFRIDGE.

Apology: An apology for absence was intimated on behalf of Councillor KATHLEEN RITCHIE.

Councillor KING, Convener, in the Chair.

1. PROVISIONAL REVENUE AND CAPITAL BUDGETS 1999/2000

There were submitted (a) Report No 180/99 by the Director of Finance being a Background Report apprising members of the Provisional Revenue Budget submissions of each Council Department and of the savings considered necessary to allow the Council to deliver a Budget within the Expenditure Guideline set by the Secretary of State for Scotland, and also setting out the Provisional Composite Capital Budget submissions for those Departments with capital programme expenditure; (b) Report No 181/99 by the Director of Finance being the Provisional Revenue Budget Volume, together with a commentary by each Head of Department; (c) Report No 182/99 by the Director of Finance being the Departmental Savings Proposals Volume; and (d) Report No 183/99 by the Director of Finance being the Provisional Capital Budget 1999/2000.

Councillor King referred to the fact that the major problem faced by the Council related to its expenditure guideline figure and emphasised that the figure had been set at a level which again penalised Angus Council. He said that continuation of an expenditure control system which relied on the historic spending levels of past Councils, meant that Angus had been given the lowest spending limit of all Scottish Councils in relation to the Government’s assessment of need. The consequence of this control system was that the Council needed to find £2.2 million of expenditure cuts over and above the £19 million of cuts the Council had had to make since its inception. He therefore challenged the need for spending guidelines to be issued.

In order to budget within guidelines and also to meet the Council’s commitment to improve the priority services of Education, Social Work, Police and Fire, it had been necessary to restrict spending on the other key services which the Council provided. Nevertheless, by judicious financial management, the proposed budget provided a measure of protection to allow capital investment in education, industrial development and town centre improvements and to significantly limit the effects of the cuts on front line services. It would also allow the Council to pursue, to a limited extent, its spend to change and policy-led budgeting initiatives which would provide benefit to the citizens of Angus over the coming years. Despite another difficult financial settlement, the Council would be able to deliver a budget in line with government spending targets without making staff redundant, closing facilities or making huge increases to the charges levied for Council services. The corporate approach which had been taken by Conveners and Directors in helping to solve these difficult problems was greatly appreciated, but the continued paring of the revenue budget undoubtedly would have an impact on the level of quality of service which the Council was able to provide.

Thereafter, Councillor William Middleton reported on the outcome of the meeting of the Central Consultative Committee held earlier this day, at which the representatives of the trade unions and teachers' associations had welcomed this year's arrangements for consultation, noted the general context within which the budget had been prepared, and commented on a number of the Departmental budgets.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the views of the Trade Union representatives on the Central Consultative Committee arising from their meeting earlier this day;

(ii) to note the Provisional Base Budget Submissions for 1999/2000 of Miscellaneous Other Services, Finance (General), Finance (Revenues) and Information Technology as contained in pages 87, 98 to 99, 100 and 110 to 111 respectively of the Provisional Revenue Budget Volume (Report No 181/99);

(iii) to note the savings proposals of the Finance (General), Finance (Revenues) and Information Technology Departments as contained in pages 34 and 40 respectively of the Departmental Savings Proposals Volume (Report No 182/99);

(iv) to approve the savings for Finance (General) totalling £9,000, the savings for Finance (Revenues) totalling £46,000, and the savings for the Information Technology Department totalling £21,000;

(v) to approve the revised budget net expenditure for the Miscellaneous Other Services, Finance (General), Finance (Revenues) and Information Technology Departments resulting therefrom and to advise the Council at the Council Tax setting meeting in early March 1999 accordingly;

(vi) to note and approve the Corporate Savings totalling £1,250,000 as contained in page 8 of the Departmental Savings Proposals Volume (Report No 182/99);

(vii) to note and submit to the Council at the Council Tax setting meeting in early March 1999 that the provision for Pay Inflation Allowance be £2,000,000; that the provision for Local Tax Collection Miscellaneous Income be £660,000 and that the provision for Loan Charges be £9,573,000 (all of which were shown on page 5 of the Provisional Revenue Budget Volume ­ Report No 181/99);

(viii) to note and submit to the Council at the Council Tax setting meeting in early March 1999 that the provision for Local Government Reform Costs be £190,000 as detailed on page 121 of the Provisional Revenue Budget Volume (Report No 181/99);

(ix) to approve the Information Technology and Miscellaneous Provisional Capital Budgets for 1999/2000 as contained in pages 18 to 19 and 31 to 32 respectively of the Capital Budget Volume (Report No 183/99);

(x) to note the Provisional Base Budget Submissions for 1999/2000 of the three Joint Boards for Tayside, namely Police £13,744,000, Fire £3,406,000 and Valuation (Assessors) £599,000 as shown on page 120 of the Provisional Revenue Budget Volume (Report No 181/99);

(xi) to note that these finalised budget submissions for 1999/2000 of the Tayside Police, Tayside Fire and Tayside Valuation Joint Boards had been agreed at meetings of the respective Boards on 15 February 1999;

(xii) to submit these finalised budget requisitions for the Joint Boards to the Council at the Council Tax setting meeting in early March 1999;

(xiii) to note the Provisional Base Budget Submission for 1999/2000 of the Tayside Contracts Joint Arrangement being £196,000 (Surplus) as shown on page 121 of the Provisional Revenue Budget Volume (Report No 181/99);

(xiv) to note that the 1999/2000 budget estimate for the Tayside Contracts Joint Arrangement had yet to be agreed by the Joint Committee, but had been agreed as being achievable by Tayside Contracts officers; and

(xv) to submit this provisional budget position for the Tayside Contracts Joint Arrangement to the Council at the Council Tax setting meeting in early March 1999.