Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Lord Provost intimated that he had directed in terms of Section 50(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, that the following item be considered as a matter of urgency in order to comply with the Council decision of 6 October 2016.

With reference to Article 12 of the minute of its meeting of 6 October 2016, the Council had before it a report by the Chief Executive which responded to the decision to present a legacy report on the work of the Council for the period May 2012 to present to be included in the Council Tax bills for 2017/18.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          note the content of the progress report; and

(b)          agree to the inclusion of the report in Council Tax bills for 2017/18.

Councillor Flynn moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Yuill:-

That Standing Order 22(1) be suspended in order that there be no decision to present a legacy report to be included in the Council Tax bills, and therefore that the report not be considered this day.

On a division, there voted:-

For the procedural motion  (20)  -  Councillors Cameron, Copland, Corall, Cormie, Delaney, Dickson, Jackie Dunbar, Flynn, Greig, Hutchison, Jaffrey, MacGregor, Malone, Nicoll, Noble, Samarai, Jennifer Stewart, Sandy Stuart, Townson and Yuill.

Against the procedural motion  (21)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Allan, Boulton, Carle, Cooney, Crockett, Donnelly, Lesley Dunbar, Finlayson, Graham, Grant, Ironside, Laing, Lawrence, Malik, Milne, Jean Morrison, Nathan Morrison, Taylor and Young.

The Council resolved:-

to reject the procedural motion and therefore consider the report this day.

At this juncture, Councillor Laing proposed that the report on the Common Good Budget 2017/18 to 2021/22 be referred simpliciter to the Finance, Policy and Resources Committee on 9 March 2017.

The Council further resolved:-

that the report on the Common Good Budget 2017/18 to 2021/22 be referred simpliciter to the Finance, Policy and Resources Committee on 9 March 2017.

The Council further resolved:-

to approve the recommendations in the report as outlined above.

The Council had before it a report by the Chief Executive which presented the refreshed Strategic Business Plan for 2017-2018.

The report recommended:-

that the Council note the content of the refreshed Strategic Business Plan 2017-2018.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

The Council had before it a report by the Interim Director of Corporate Governance which provided details of the Non-Housing Capital Programme 2017/18 to 2021/22 and how it impacted on the Council’s balance sheet, along with a high level summary of the Council’s revenue budget for the next five years and a detailed revenue budget for 2017/18.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          note that the presentation of this year’s budget report was fundamentally different from previous years and that this reflected the change in financial reporting to Council as a result of London Stock Exchange listing. A specific requirement of this was that all expenditure figures must be shown as gross.

Balance Sheet Recommendations

(b)          note the projected balance sheet position including the reserves as at 31 March 2017;

(c)          approve the Non-Housing Capital programme as attached at Appendix 1, and by doing so note that the Council would be maintaining the level of debt over the next 5 years as advised to Moody’s the credit rating agency;

(d)          consider the items in Paragraph 5.20which were not currently included in the capital budget;

(e)          approve the Prudential Indicators as attached at Appendix 2 to the report, and by so doing note that the indicators should convey confidence to the investors in the Council’s Bond of our ability to repay the debt due; and

(f)           approve the recommended use of reserves for 2017/18 as attached at Appendix 3 which specifically included a Risk Fund and non-earmarked reserves.

Revenue Budget Recommendations

Long Term and Medium Term

(g)          note the draft financial position for 2018/19 to 2021/22 as shown in paragraph 5.35;

(h)          note the Medium Term and Long-Term Financial Plans as shown in Appendix 4; and

(i)            approve the creation of a ‘Change Fund’ reserve of £8million, as described in paragraph 5.41.

Short Term

(j)            set a balanced revenue budget for 2017/18, by selecting service options contained in Appendix 6;

(k)          agree to the conditions of the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2017/18 in so far as it was within its legal powers to do so (further details given in Section 3 of the report);

(l)            approve the level of funding for 2017/18 in relation to the Integration Joint Board (IJB), and note that it would be for the IJB itself to determine which savings options to take from Appendix 7;

(m)         approve the IJB Budget protocol proposed by the Chief Executive as shown at Appendix 8 and note that it would also have to be approved by NHS Grampian and the IJB;

(n)          approve the setting aside of the underspend in 2016/17 for procurement of services to support the change plans set out in the strategic plan, and severance payments;

(o)          consider the items in Paragraph 5.67 which were not currently included in the revenue budget; and

(p)          instruct the Director of Education and Children’s Services to provide a further report to the Education and Children’s Services Committee, setting out plans for how the ring fenced monies  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Council had before it a joint report by the Interim Director of Corporate Governance and the Interim Director of Communities, Housing and Infrastructure which provided information to allow the setting of the rent level for the financial year 2017/18 as well as provisional rent levels for the financial years 2018/19 to 2021/22. The report noted that this would allow a capital programme for 2017/18 as well as a provisional programme to be set for 2018/19 to 2021/22.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          approve the budget as attached in Appendix 1 of the report;

(b)          approve the weekly unrebated rents for municipal houses, as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report, to take effect from 3 April 2017;

(c)          approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2017/18 as well as a provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(d)          continue to increase the level of working balances to ensure a minimum of 10% was maintained to meet future contingencies;

(e)          approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(f)           set a capital programme for the financial year 2017/18 based on the rent strategy adopted as well as the indicative level of programme for the financial years 2018/19 to 2021/22;

(g)          in order for work to commence on the capital programme, approve as estimated expenditure in terms of Standing Order 1(3) (of the Council’s Standing Orders relating to Contracts and Procurement) the sums shown against each heading of the Housing Capital Expenditure budget set out in Appendix 1 of the report; and

(h)          authorise the Interim Director of Communities, Housing and Infrastructure to undertake or instruct appropriate procedures to procure the works referred to in Appendix 1 for the capital programme and award contacts relating thereto.

Councillor Cooney moved, seconded by Councillor Donnelly:-

            That the Council -

(1)       approve the budget as attached in Appendix 1 of the report subject to (2) and (3) below;

(2)       approve that the weekly unrebated rents for municipal houses be frozen for 2017/18 with the exception of those phasing towards the model rent, to take effect from 3 April 2017;

(3)       approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2017/18 at £24.045million as well as a provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(4)       maintain the level of working balances to ensure a minimum of 10% was maintained to meet future contingencies;

(5)       approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(6)       set a capital programme for the financial year 2017/18 based on the rent strategy adopted as well as the indicative level of programme for the financial years 2018/19 to 2021/22 as contained within the report;

(7)       in order for work to commence on the capital programme, approve  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Council had before it a report by the Interim Director of Corporate Governance which provided details of the budget included in the 2017/18 - 2021/22 General Fund budget that related to the North East Scotland Pension Fund (NESPF).

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          note the provision contained within the Council’s General Fund budget for 2017/18 to 2021/22;

(b)          instruct the Head of Finance to recover the actual costs from the NESPF; and

(c)          note the progress on the introduction of a Service Level Agreement.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

- GEORGE ADAM, Lord Provost.