18 November (Part 2) - The Budget. He said, she said…
Council Leader Teresa O’Neill…
• It is vitally important that we live within our means.
• [On Covid] We have received additional monies albeit at this moment it doesn’t
quite cover the total of the in year cost difference we’re predicting.
• [On budget] It is a moving target but fortunately the Freedom Pass impact is going our way.
• [On the budget consultation] It will form part of the decision making process.
• [On the Fair Funding Review] The current system doesn’t deliver a level playing
field. Greenwich gets more than us but our need is at least the equivalent of
theirs while you could argue that their affluence is much greater.
• Our Public Health Grant is the third lowest in the country.
• We will do what we were elected to do by our residents.
Finance Director Paul Thorogood
• The revenue forecast outturn shows a favourable movement by six million pounds
[in part] due to the Covid Grant of £2·8 million.
• Some of the income streams have been volatile particularly parking.
• In addition to the pandemic the Council is forecasting an in year pressure of
£3·7 million in relation to out day to day operations. Most relates to temporary accommodation.
• A further Capital Program Review … will allow the Council to reduce its establishment.
• Specific work is needed to review the parking opportunity against the current market conditions.
[Gobbledygook but probably code for price increases.]
Cabinet Member David Leaf (17 Minutes and 20 Seconds)
• This administration’s approach, to
the forward plan for the medium term and the
forthcoming budget continues to remain the right approach to take. [Says he.]
• This administration has consistently put forward financial plans that have
delivered key front line services for our residents, kept Council Tax down
[relative to other London boroughs Bexley has got slowly worse] and made balanced decisions.
• The legacy of the funding formula brought in by Government in 2006 still impacts on our finances today.
• We inherited plans which led to Council Tax increases of at least 8% year on
year. There was an overspend position and reserves had fallen to £5·6 million
despite four years of huge [40%] Council tax increases.
• We have run a tight ship in Bexley and closed budget gaps of over £100 million.
• Before Covid we faced closing a budget gap for 2021/22 in the region of £20
million. We consulted and there are around 4,000 and 250 pages of of responses.
Different views were expressed. Some residents expressed concerns about
increasing fees and charges while others support them.
• There were requests for more reinforcement of parking restrictions and some for less.
{This illustrates the futility of public consultations that provide 4,000
answers. The Council can pick the ones they had in mind anyway and claim to be
following the wishes of the people.]
• We are seeking to remove about six million from our establishment costs. There
will be some redundancies, numbers are not yet known. We may need to utilise capital receipts.
• While we have strategically deployed some reserves and built up some others
during the past our financial plans have never involved relying solely on
reserves in the medium term.
Cabinet Member Philip Read
• There is absolutely no doubt that the consultation has been successful. It is
clear evidence that we not only want to hear from our residents but are
listening to their views as we seek a solution that has regard to our statutory
duties and the financial context within which we are operating.
• Since 2014 the overspend has averaged £7·52 million
and in every year the gap has been closed.
That concluded the formal report after which Councillors were allowed to have their
say but at this point no one had mentioned closing libraries, only one reference
to redundancy and no one referred specifically to getting no money from
the sale of the Turpin Road distribution centre because
it will all go on redundancy payments.
Interesting that the Council Leader didn’t seek to blame Covid for the problems and
we are not quite in Croydon territory. Yet.