Agenda item

The Cabinet considered a report providing the latest proposals for the Revenue Budget Strategy for 2023/24 and the following two financial years.

The report summarised the latest budgetary position and provided an update on the budget validation, spending pressures, the Welsh Government final settlement and the responses received to the budget consultation.

The Cabinet Member for Resources, in presenting the report, commented that whilst Welsh Government’s final annual settlement figures would not be published until March 1^st 2023 the key components of the Council’s budget assumptions and allocations had been reviewed which had resulted in increased budget headroom. Some of the proposals within the original Budget outline had therefore been revisited and further options considered. 

The full details of the provisional settlement had been included within the report, but the headline was on all Wales basis. RSG funding for Local Government had increased by 7.9%, with Carmarthenshire receiving an increase of 8.5%.

Whilst this had enabled the catastrophe Local Authorities had feared last November to be avoided very difficult decisions had still to be made. This year’s budget choices were considered to be every bit as hard as during the very worst years of the austerity era. 

The Cabinet Member for Resources referred to the fact that within the report the Director of Corporate Services had made some adjustments to some of the other figures within the strategy. This, he emphasised, was part of the normal routine, as more and clearer information became available.  The current total validation added more than £30m to the budget.  

The report maintained the pay assumption from 5% allowed for in next year for both NJC and teaching staff - this being the most significant validation included within the assumptions, and also the most uncertain. It was noted in the report that every 1% on the council’s pay bill equated to £2.6m. With the level of industrial action across the wider public sector, the level of nationally set pay awards was the most significant validation included within the assumptions, and also the greatest risk factor.  

The Cabinet Member for Resources referred to the consultations which had taken place on the budget proposals between December and January when more than 2,000 people had taken the trouble of completing the survey and sharing their views. He expressed his thanks to all who had taken part in the consultation or responded to the surveys, and in particular for the commitment and engagement of his fellow councillors who had participated in the budget seminars in such a positive spirit. He also thanked the 80 young people from local secondary schools who had visited County Hall to question cabinet members and officers and express their views on what the Council’s priorities should be.    

The Cabinet Member for Resources advised that a total sum of almost £1.8 million was available to make changes to next year’s budget and he suggested that the best possible use be made of this sum by making the following adjustments to the Budget Strategy which took account of the consultation process and responses to the feedback from both public and councillors: 

Firstly, that £1.3million be provided to remove or reduce the 9 specific budget reductions detailed in paragraph 3.2.5 of the report which included: 

• keeping St Clears Leisure centre open whilst the Authority worked with the community to set it on a viable financial path;

• restoring a quarter of a million pounds back to children’s and youth services to invest in the prevention agenda; 

• lessening the impact on both the school music service and learning disability services;  

• reducing the financial ask on schools by £700,000, responding to what had been the strongest view given in the public consultation;

• deferring any changes to the rising 4s schools admission policy by a year to ensure wider consultation and allow the proper time to plan any possible changes.  

He added that the proposal to charge for parking in nine car parks in smaller towns and villages had also been removed and that a case-for-case assessment would be made during the year.

Secondly, that £385,000 be used to support both hard working families and businesses by restricting the proposed increase in car park charges and school meals to 5%, which was half the current rate of inflation.  

Thirdly, in responding to concerns over highways and town centres, that over a quarter-of-a-million pounds be allocated directly toward these priorities. It was recognised that Welsh Government had suffered a significant contraction in its capital budgets, and therefore some of the historical support provided for public realm works had sadly dried up in recent years – this council’s choice would, he advised, at least be a partial mitigation. Rather than cut spending on street sweeping and so on, as previously proposed, more would be spent on keeping town centres cleaner and more attractive to visitors and residents alike.

Finally, and importantly, this left sufficient funding available for the council tax increase to be reduced to 6.8% for next year which, the Cabinet Board Member for Resources considered, struck the right balance in terms of protecting vital services which Carmarthenshire’s citizens relied upon and looked to the council to deliver each and every day. 

The Cabinet Board Member for Resources suggested that adopting these proposals allowed the Cabinet to present a fair and balanced budget to County Council and responded to the views fed back from the consultation. He advised that if all the proposals he had outlined were implemented a sustainable and viable Budget Strategy could be provided which: 

•   Respondes to the consultation; 

• Ensured, as far as possible, that service levels and standards were maintained;  

• Recognised that residents were finding it hard in the current climate and ensured core services were protected; 

• prepared, as far as was possible, the Authority for the uncertainties that may lie ahead.   

He therefore moved that the proposed Budget Strategy, with the amendments he had referred to, be approved and recommended to County Council.  

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT IT BE RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:-

5.1 To approve the Budget Strategy for 2023/24, which includes the amendments in paragraph 4.1.4 of the report;

5.2 To approve the Band D Council Tax for 2023/24 of £1,490.97 (an increase of 6.8%);

5.3 To approve the removal of specific savings proposals as identified in paragraph 3.2.5 of the report;

5.4 To approve the restriction of income uplifts to school meals and car parks as identified in paragraph 3.2.5 of the report;

5.5 To approve the discretionary allocation of pressures funding to highways and town centres as identified in paragraph 3.2.5 of the report; 

5.6 To approve the Medium Term Financial Plan which will form the basis of future years planning;

5.7. That the Director of Corporate Services, in consultation with the Chief Executive, Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources, be delegated authority to make any amendments necessary as a consequence of the WG settlement due on 1st March 2023.