Issue - meetings

BUDGETING PACK 2023 - 2024

Reports by Section 95 Officer

Additional documents:

Webcast for BUDGETING PACK 2023 - 2024

Minutes:

The Council considered the Revenue Budget and Capital Budget papers as contained within the budgeting pack, considered such other appropriate resolutions in relation to these papers and fixed the Council Tax for the year to 31 March 2024 which had been referred without recommendation by the Policy and Resources Committee held on 16 February 2023.

Motion

The Council:

a) Approves the revenue budget for 2023/24 as set out in the Revenue Budget Overview Report and subject to the decisions outlined below and in the Administration Revenue Budget Model provided at Appendix 1 (A).

b) Approves a base allocation to the Health and Social Care Partnership of £76.253m for 2023/24. Approves indicative base allocations for 2024/25 and 2025/26 to be £76.253m. The level of future years funding is subject to the level of Scottish Government funding and the Council’s overall financial position in future years.

c) Notes the deferred 3% reduction to the Live Argyll management fee from 2022/23 and approves a 3% reduction in 2023/24, resulting in a management fee of £3.835m for 2023/24.

(i) Endorses the new management/operational savings totalling £2.962m outlined in Appendix 5 of the Revenue Budget Overview Report.

(ii) Rejects the following policy savings options, in full or in part, as set out below and in the Administration Revenue Budget Model at Appendix 1(A) and totalling £319.5k in 2023/24:

· EDU2324-003 – Funding for parent/toddler groups/other non-statutory third sector

· CSS2324-001 – Customer Engagement Team

· RIS2324-001 – School Crossing Patrollers, while agreeing that all SCP posts vacant for one year or more are deleted from the establishment (saving of £60k)

· DEG2324-002 – Funding contribution to Argyll and the Isles Countryside Trust (ACT)

(iii) Accepts all other policy savings options totalling £6.144m.

e) In respect of the service concession arrangements:

(i) Approves the accounting change as outlined within the report, noting the principal repayment period will now be 60 years which better reflects the life of the asset.

(ii) Notes that this accounting change will create a one-off retrospective benefit of £36.038m.

(iii) Agrees that £5.4m of the one-off retrospective benefit will be used to replace exercising the principal repayment holiday that was previously agreed by Council.

(iv) Notes that the view of the Council’s Section 95 Officer is that the revised accounting approach is affordable, sustainable and prudent.

(v) Invests the remaining £30.638m in Priorities for Argyll and Bute as set out in Table 1 below.

f) Approves the capital plan as set out in Appendix 3 of the Capital Plan Summary Report, and agrees to fund the £725k gap through transfers to the Capital Plan as set out in the Administration Capital Budget Model provided at Appendix 1 (B) to this motion, and agrees additional capital allocations for investment in Priorities for Argyll and Bute, as set out in Table 1:

Table 1 – Investing in Argyll and Bute’s Priorities

Supporting Delivery of Priorities for Argyll and Bute – delivering a vision for Argyll and Bute, our people, our success and our future
			Funded From
£7m	Priorities Investment Fund	Safeguarding future investment in Priorities for Argyll and Bute by making long-term use of service concession gain to establish dedicated fund to lever in, secure and support key strategic investments in this year and future years.	Service Concessions
£2m	Capital Projects Inflation Pressures	Boosting resilience of Capital Programme and providing added support as required for key capital/infrastructure projects.	Service Concessions
Priorities: Education – Learning Estate, now and in the future Partnership and Action – contributing to tackling climate change
£8m	Learning Estate Investment Strategy	Signalling council’s commitment to working in partnership to secure new schools for Argyll and Bute, through substantial investment to support future-proofing of Argyll and Bute’s schools estate.	Service Concessions
£640k	Climate Change	Continuing our track record of investing in climate change with funding to further enhance school estate climate change measures, with allocations for primary and secondary schools across the area in Campbeltown, Dunoon, Helensburgh, Lochgilphead, Oban and Rothesay.	Service Concessions
Priorities: Potential and Growth – investing in the future. Partnership and action – everyone has a part to play in Argyll and Bute’s future success.
£6.132m	Rothesay Pavilion	Building on previous commitments to securing a future for this building of international, national and local significance with additional contribution to the overall funding target which requires collective action; helping project to progress towards success with funding that supports completion of certain work stages and securing wind/watertight status.	Service Concessions (£4.772m) Recovery and Renewal Fund (£1.360m)
Priorities: Infrastructure, Waste and Recycling Services Partnership and Action – playing our part in tackling climate change
£3.5m	Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) Ban	Ensuring Argyll and Bute is able to better address the challenges faced by a remote/rural/ island region in complying with the forthcoming national BMW ban.	Service Concessions
£700k	New refuse collection vehicles	Enhancing waste and recycling uplift arrangements through placing orders for new refuse vehicles.	Service Concessions
Priority: Roads and Infrastructure – roads and pathways
£3.797m	Extra Capital Funding for Roads	Allocating more capital funding in for roads repair and maintenance programme as part of overall £8m total investment for 2023/24.	Unallocated General Fund
£4.588m	Roads Investment to Capital	Augmenting overall allocation for roads repair and maintenance programme with additional funds to bring up to £8m total investment for 2024/25.	Service Concessions (£3.546m) Unallocated General Fund (£1.042m)
£750k	Footpath improvements	Providing additional funding for footpath improvements across Argyll and Bute.	Unallocated General Fund
£250k	New jet patcher vehicle	Complementing multi-million pound capital investment in roads repair and maintenance with new jet patcher order to support delivery of programme.	Service Concessions
£230k	New road marking vehicle	Completing suite of investments in new fleet procurement, to support delivery of roads repair and maintenance programme, with order for additional road marking vehicle.	Service Concessions
Priority: Potential and growth – making assets work now
£531k	ICT computer replacement	Supporting the council’s digital resilience and overall efficiency with investment in ICT assets.	Unallocated General Fund
Total Investments through Service Concessions			£30.638m
Total Investments through Recovery and ... view the full minutes text for item 5 :

Issue - meetings

BUDGETING PACK 2023 - 2024

Meeting: 23/02/2023 - Argyll and Bute Council (Item 5)