The Director for Corporate Services will submit a report on Plymouth City Council’s indicative revenue and capital budget.  It sets out the indicative net budgets by department; the adequacy of reserves; the robustness of the budget and details the directorate revenue budget delivery plans.  

The Director for Corporate Services submitted a written report setting out the City Council’s 2013/14 indicative revenue and capital budget. The report set out the net budgets by department; the adequacy of reserves; the robustness of the budget and detailed the directorate revenue budget delivery plans.

At this stage the budget was subject to a number of caveats and potential change including –

·         the outcome of the provisional settlement in December and the final settlement in January 2013;

·         on-going consultation processes;

·         the Council’s scrutiny process and conclusion in January 2013;

·         further Cabinet meetings in January and February 2013;

·         Full Council approval of the final budget and Council tax in February 2013.  

The report also contained a high level summary of the Corporate Plan 2012 -15.  The full report would be published for scrutiny in January 2013 to inform their discussions on the Council’s proposed priorities and budget.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) referred to the Chancellor’s statement and indicated that that the government settlement had not yet been received. An announcement had been made that as of April 2014, a further two per cent cut would be made in the Council’s settlement to finance a new infrastructure fund.  At this stage a Council tax rise of two per cent was being considered subject to confirmation of the grant settlement and the precepts levied by the Police and Fire Authorities.  

The thanks of Cabinet were extended to finance officers for their considerable work and efforts.  

Alternative options considered and reasons for the decision –

As set out in the report.

Agreed that –

(1)  the proposed revenue target budget requirement of £198.3m for 2013/14 and four year capital programme of £132.1m is recommended for consultation;

(2)  Cabinet considers findings from the consultation, feedback from budget scrutiny and any material changes announced in the final settlement for Plymouth City Council in early February 2013 and recommend the final revenue and capital budget for 2013/14 to Full Council on 25 February 2013.