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Issue - meetings

Budget 2025 – 2026

 

 

Meeting: 26/02/2025 - Council (Item 237)

237 Budget 2025/26 pdf icon PDF 529 KB

Purpose

To provide the proposed budget for 2025/26, whilst also considering approval for:

1.    The Draft Base Budget for 2025/26

2.    The Council’s Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32

3.    The level of Council Tax for 2025/26

4.    The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)

5.    The Council’s Financial Strategies

6.    The Council’s Pay Policy Statement

 

Recommendation

That Council resolves to approve:

1.    The General Fund Revenue Budget as Summarised in Annex A.

2.    The Updated Medium Term Financial Strategy in Annex B.

3.    The Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32 as set out in Annex D.

4.    The Council’s Pay Policy Statement as set out in Annex J.

5.    The Council’s Capital Strategy as set out in Annex K

6.    The Council’s Investment Strategy as set out in Annex L

7.    The Council’s Treasury Strategy as set out in Annex M

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The purpose of the item was to provide the proposed budget for 2025/26, whilst also considering approval for:

1.    The Draft Base Budget for 2025/26

2.    The Council’s Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32

3.    The level of Council Tax for 2025/26

4.    The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)

5.    The Council’s Financial Strategies

6.    The Council’s Pay Policy Statement

 

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Andy Graham, presented the budget,  explaining that it was set in the context of financial pressures faced by councils across the country. In light of this, the Leader stated that the Council was committed to prudent financial management. The Leader highlighted what the administration had achieved, which included;

  • £1m to a football pitch in Witney
  • Climate change initiatives, including new electric vehicles for the waste fleet
  • Holding Executive meetings on tour, improving engagement with communities
  • Continued participation in the Proptech fund
  • Improvements in the Council’s estate, including solar panels at Elmfield
  • Support to communities through the shared prosperity fund and rural England prosperity fund
  • Delivering 50 vital services from waste collection to homelessness support
  • Savings achieved from better estate management and waste contract renegotiations
  • £125,000 in savings within customer services
  • Providing homelessness support for local residents

 

The Leader thanked Officers for their work.

 

The Leader of the Opposition responded, stating that the increase in Council Tax and green waste licence fees were detrimental to residents, that there was a lack of income in Marriott’s Walk due to empty shops and a delay in letting units. The Leader of the Opposition stated that a one-off windfall allocation had been fortuitous to the Council’s Budget and that otherwise the MTFS showed that reserves would run out by 2028. The Leader of the Opposition further highlighted that they believed the budget as presented to be a placeholder ahead of local government reorganisation, and that the majority of the capital programme had been carried over from the previous budget, with a lack of new projects.

 

In debate, alliance members made the following points;

  • The Council had one of the lowest green waste licence fees in the country but an increase was necessary to cover operating costs
  • Work had been done to review waste and recycling, leading to improved recycling contracts that saved £80,000 a year with further efficiencies expected by the Waste and Recycling transition project
  • Retail and other services made Witney an attractive place to live in, work and visit. The Council had invested £10m into Marriott’s walk, and the annual income was £650k, representing a strong return on investment (ROI). The capital investment into the Elmfield site was also highlighted as having increased net income for the Council through business rate savings, it was stated that the overall cost of the agile working project was £1.55m which was providing a 12.9% yearly ROI.
  • In response to the lack of new projects raised by the Leader of the opposition, special projects within the budget were highlighted by alliance members, particularly the Council’s work on housing and homelessness  ...  view the full minutes text for item 237

Meeting: 12/02/2025 - Executive (Item 296)

296 Budget 2025 – 2026 pdf icon PDF 530 KB

Purpose

This report provides an update on the budget for 2025/26 following the provisional government funding settlement on 18th December 2024.

 

To consider:

1.    The Draft Base Budget for 2025/26

2.    The Council’s Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32

3.    The level of Council Tax for 2025/26

4.    The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)

5.    The Responses from the Statutory Budget Consultation

 

Recommendation

That the Executive resolves to note:

1.    The Parish Precepts and Tax Levels set out in Annex H.

And Resolves to Recommend the following to Council for approval:

2.    The General Fund Revenue Budget as Summarised in Annex A.

3.    The Updated Medium Term Financial Strategy in Annex B.

4.    The Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32 as set out in Annex D.

5.    The Council’s Pay Policy Statement as set out in Annex J.

6.    The Level of District Council Tax for 2025/26 for a Band D property of £129.38 as shown in Annexes E-G.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to provide an update on the budget for 2025/26 following the provisional government funding settlement on 18 December 2024.

 

Items to be considered included:

1.    The Draft Base Budget for 2025/26

2.    The Council’s Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32

3.    The level of Council Tax for 2025/26

4.    The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)

5.    The Responses from the Statutory Budget Consultation

 

Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance, presented the report and proposed accepting the recommendations. Councillor Smith noted that the Budget presented to Executive included a contribution to general fund reserve of £91,280.  Version one of the report had been presented to the Executive on 11 December 2024, with an estimated contribution to general fund of £400k before growth which had been based on the anticipated funding settlement.

 

Councillor Smith presented section five of the report which contained key movements from the approved budget 24/25 which had originally projected and a contribution to General Fund reserves of £5,107. The movements were detailed in table 1 and explained in section 5.3of the report. The most notable points were summarised by Councillor Smith as; the negative impact of the reduction in the National Insurance threshold and the percentage increase of employer contributions, the positive impact of contract work done with regards to glass recycling and dry and mixed recycling, and the estimate of Council Tax second home premium.

 

Councillor Smith stated that the provisional funding settlement was announced on 18 December 2024 and was £55k better than anticipated in version 1 on the budget. The key differences were highlighted in section 4.3 of the report.

 

Section 6.1 presented key movements from version 1 to version 2 of the budget presented to the Executive on 15 January 2025. Version 2 projected a contribution to General Fund reserves of £554k before growth. The movements were detailed in Table 2 of the report and explained beneath the table. Councillor Smith summarised the key movements: -

 

  • Changes in Fees and Charges including increases in Green Waste Licences of £2.50. Councillor Smith noted that this was still well below charges in most neighbouring districts, and the draft charges had previously been approved by the Executive on 15 January 2025.
  • Staff development budget of £150k. The TUPE of staff back to the Council, in phase 1 of the Publica transition had resulted in new organisational structures and additional training needed to be provided to staff to ensure that they were supported in their roles.
  • The one-off allocation of £2.3m of Extended Producer Responsibilities funding. This funding was a fee charged for packaging supplies imported into the UK. The money was passed to local Authorities to deal with handling the waste from this. The payment figure for 2025/26 had been announced now to allow authorities to plan. The budget report recommended that £1.7m of this was moved to Earmarked Reserves.

 

Councillor Smith explained that Section 7 of the report provided details of key movements in the Budget taken to Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 296

Meeting: 05/02/2025 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 98)

98 Update on Budget 2025 – 2026 pdf icon PDF 526 KB

Purpose:

This report provides an update on the budget for 2025/26 following the provisional government funding settlement on 18th December 2024.

 

To consider:

1)    The Draft Base Budget for 2025/26

2)    The Council’s Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32

3)    The level of Council Tax for 2025/26

4)    The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)

5)    The Responses from the Statutory Budget Consultation

 

Recommendations:

That the Executive resolves to recommend the following to Council for approval:

1)    The General Fund Revenue Budget as Summarised in Annex A.

2)    The Updated Medium Term Financial Strategy in Annex B.

3)    The Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32 as set out in Annex D.

4)    The Council’s Pay Policy Statement as set out in Annex L.

5)    The level of District Council Tax for 2025/26 for a Band D property of £129.38 as shown in Annexes E-G.

 And the following for noting:

1)    Fees and charges for 2025/26, as detailed in Annex I and J.

2)    The Parish Precepts and Tax Levels set out in Annex H.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance, introduced the update on the Budget for 2025 – 2026 which would be considered by the Executive on 12 February 2025 and then full Council on 26 February 2025. The Executive Member highlighted that:

  • The projected budget surplus of £91,280 in 2025/26 was welcome but the picture became more difficult through the duration of the medium term financial strategy.
  • The outcome and impact of the local government funding review remained uncertain but was expected to result in a significant reduction in the Council’s funding.
  • There was also uncertainty around the cost of the next leisure contract.
  • Changes to recycling contracts were benefiting the Council by £420k overall.
  • The Council Tax second homes premium was expected to increase income by £219k.
  • Fees and charges income was expected to increase by £138k compared to the draft budget presented to the Executive in December.
  • Growth items were included in the budget to enable the Council to provide better services going forwards.

 

The Committee asked questions and noted that:

  • Fees and charges, including for green waste, had been agreed by the Executive on 15 January 2025.
  • While there was a small in-year overspend on the cost of services in 2024/25, this was expected to be balanced by Business Rates income and the final outturn for 2024/25 was expected to be a surplus.
  • The Council had a range of robust internal controls in place but there were some factors that could affect the Council’s finances that were beyond the Council’s control.
  • There was a looming financial gap in year 2 which the Council was seeking to mitigate, for example by treating grant funding as one-off income.
  • There would be a rebasing of the budget for Publica to ensure that there would be a more realistic spread of the service costs between the three partner councils.
  • The Council would receive £117k from the government towards the cost of increased Employer National Insurance Contributions. This sum had very recently been confirmed and officers would need to work out the Council’s net position. The final funding settlement was otherwise unchanged.
  • The Council, along with other shire districts, was expecting a significant reduction in Business Rates income. Some form of phasing was likely to be applied but this was still uncertain.
  • £100k was provided over two years for legal services related to the next leisure contract.
  • Extended Producer Responsibility funding of £2.3m would be received in quarter 3 of 2025/26 and had been treated as one-off funding in the budget. More information about the terms of this funding was expected from the Government nearer the time.
  • The target for Development Management fee income had been reduced by £150k to provide a more realistic target. Should there be major planning applications that come through then there may be a positive variance against this target.
  • As part of the budget setting process the finance team had spoken to all services and asked them to submit any growth requests.
  • The budget consultation had recently closed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98

 

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