Agenda item

It was moved by Mr Rhodes and seconded by Mr Shepherd:-

 

“(a)   That subject to the items below, approval be given to the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which incorporates the recommended revenue budget for 2015/16 totalling £348m as set out in Appendices A, B and C of the report and includes the growth and savings for that year as set out in Appendix D;

 

(b)  That approval be given to the projected provisional revenue budgets for 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19, set out in Appendix B to the report, including the growth and savings for those years as set out in Appendix D thereto and to the undertaking of such preliminary work, including consultation and equality impact assessment, as may be necessary towards achieving the savings specified for those years;

 

(c)  That the level of earmarked funds as set out in Appendix E be noted and the use of earmarked funds be approved;

 

(d)  That the amounts of the County Council's Council Tax for each band of dwelling and the precept payable by each billing authority for 2015/16 be as set out in Appendix F;

 

(e)  That the Chief Executive be authorised to issue the necessary precepts to billing authorities in accordance with the budget requirement above and the tax base notified by the District Councils, and to take any other action which may be necessary to give effect to the precepts;

 

(f)   That approval be given to the 2015/16 – 2018/19 capital programme as set out in Appendix G;

 

(g) That the Director of Corporate Resources be authorised to approve the following for inclusion in the 2015/16 - 2018/19 Capital Programme;

 

(i)      Invest to save schemes;

(ii)     Advance design and other advance work on urgent schemes within the capital programme including schools capital maintenance pending confirmation of the allocations from the Department for Education (DfE);

 

(h)    That the Director of Corporate Resources and the Director of Children and Family Services be authorised to approve the inclusion of funded new school accommodation capital schemes in the Capital Programme to enable the County Council to meet its statutory responsibility for the delivery of sufficient school places;

 

(i)      That the financial indicators required under the Prudential Code included in Appendix L, Annex 2 be noted and that the following limits be approved:-

 

 

 

	2015/16 £m	2016/17 £m	2017/18 £m	2018/19 £m
Operational boundary for external debt
i) Borrowing	289.8	280.9	271.0	270.6
ii)   Other long term liabilities	1.3	1.2	1.1	1.0
TOTAL	291.1	282.1	272.1	271.6
Authorised limit for external debt
i)    Borrowing	299.8	290.9	281.0	280.6
ii)   Other long term liabilities	1.3	1.2	1.1	1.0
TOTAL	301.1	292.1	282.1	281.6

 

(j)      That the Director of Corporate Resources be given delegated authority to effect movement within the authorised limit for external debt between borrowing and other long term liabilities;

 

(k)    That the following borrowing limits be approved for the period 2015/16 to 2018/19:

 

(i)   Upper limit on fixed interest exposures 100%

(ii)  Upper limit on variable rate exposures 50%

(iii)  Maturity of borrowing:-

 

	Upper Limit	Lower Limit
	%	%
Under 12 months	30	0
12 months and within 24 months	30	0
24 months and within 5 years	50	0
5 years and within 10 years	70	0
10 years and above	100	25

 

(l)      That the Director of Corporate Resources be authorised to enter into such loans or undertake such arrangements as necessary to finance capital payments in 2015/16, subject to the prudential limits in (k) above;

 

(m)  That the Treasury Management Strategy Statement and the Annual Investment Strategy for 2015/16, as set out in Appendix L, be approved including the following:

       

(i)      The Treasury Management Policy Statement, Appendix L, Annex 4;

(ii)     The Annual Statement of Annual Minimum Revenue as set out in Appendix L, Annex 1; and 

(iii)    That from the 1 April 2015 the County Council’s list of acceptable counterparties is revised to increase flexibility in managing the Investment Portfolio;

 

(n)    That approval be given to the Risk Management Policy and Strategy (Appendix I), subject to consideration by the Corporate Governance Committee on 20 February 2015 with delegation to the Director of Corporate Resources to make amendments if necessary following consideration by the Corporate Governance Committee;

 

(o)    That the Capital Strategy (Appendix H) and Earmarked Funds Policy (Appendix J), be approved;

 

(p)    That the Director of Corporate Resources following consultation with the Cabinet Lead Member for Resources be given authority to enter into or leave a future Business Rates pool.” 

 

The Chairman indicated that a named vote would be recorded, as required by Government Regulations.  The vote was recorded as follows:-

 

For the motion

Mr Bentley, Mr Blunt, Mrs Camamile, Mr Coles, Mr Coxon, Mrs Dickinson,

Dr Feltham, Mr Hampson, Mr Hart, Mr Houseman, Mr Jennings, Mr Kershaw,

Mr Lewis, Mr Liquorish, Mr Orson, Mr Osborne, Mr O’Shea, Mr Ould, Mrs Page, Mr Pain, Mr Pendleton, Mrs Posnett, Mrs Radford, Mr Rhodes, Mr Rushton, Mr Shepherd, Mr Snartt, Mr White.

 

Against the motion

Mr Bill, Mr Boulter, Mr Bray, Mr Charlesworth, Dr Eynon, Mrs Fox, Mr Galton,

Mr Gamble, Dr Hill, Mr Hunt, Mr Kaufman, Ms Knaggs, Mrs Loydall, Mr Lynch,

Mr Miah, Mr Mullaney, Ms Newton, Mr Sharp, Mr Sheahan, Mr Spence, Mr Sprason, Mr Welsh, Miss Worman, Mr Wyatt, Mr Yates.

 

The motion was put and carried, 28 members voting for the motion and 25 against.