Agenda, decisions and minutes

Councillor Mason MSP declared a general interest as a Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland.

Councillor Lesley Dunbar declared an interest in relation to agenda item 4 (General Fund Revenue Budget 2018/19 to 2022/23 and General Fund Capital Programme 2018/19 to 2022/23) by virtue her association with Aberdeen Women’s Alliance which had submitted an application for funding. Councillor Lesley Dunbar did not consider that the nature of her interest required her to leave the meeting.

The Lord Provost advised that this was the last Council meeting for a number of Chief Officers who were shortly to be leaving the organisation - namely Bernadette Marjoram, Interim Director of Communities, Housing and Infrastructure; John Quinn, Head of Land and Property Assets; Eric Owens, Interim Head of Planning and Sustainable Development; and Judith Proctor, Chief Officer - Aberdeen Health and Social Care Partnership.

The Lord Provost thanked the officers concerned for their service and wished them well in their future endeavours.

The Council resolved:-

to concur with the Lord Provost’s remarks.

Replacement page 17 which contains an amended figure for Sport Aberdeen for 2018/19. Revised version of Appendix 2 also circulated.

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided details of (1) the General Fund revenue budget for 2018/19 and high level summary for the following four years; and (2) the General Fund capital programme for 2018/19 to 2022/23.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

Target Operating Model

(a)          note the alignment of the Council’s revenue budget to the interim functional structure approved by Council in August 2017;

(b)          instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to formally notify the approved budget to all of the newly confirmed Chief Officers within the interim functional structure;

Balance Sheet Recommendations

(c)          note the projected balance sheet position including the reserves as at 31 March 2018;

(d)          approve the General Fund capital programme as attached at Appendix 1 of the report, and by doing so note that the Council will be maintaining the level of debt as advised to Moody’s, the Council’s credit rating agency;

(e)          approve the Prudential Indicators as attached at Appendix 2 to the report; and by doing so note that this demonstrates the affordability and sustainability of the Council’s borrowing levels and therefore ability to sustain its credit rating;

(f)           approve the recommended use of reserves for 2018/19 as detailed in paragraph 3.39 of the report, and by doing so note that the level of uncommitted reserves is in line with CIPFA guidance as noted in its “Local Authority Reserves & Balances” bulletin published in July 2014;

(g)          note the contingent liabilities faced by the Council as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report, which may place future financial liabilities on the Council;

(h)          note that transformation of the Council will require the use of reserves, including capital receipts to fund associated costs;

(i)            delegate to the Chief Officer - Finance to make suitable provision as part of the 2017/18 Annual Accounts for any future VS/ER payments which will be reported back to the relevant committee in due course;

(j)            approve the reserves strategy as outlined in paragraphs 3.37 to 3.39 of the report which will ensure that reserves will increase over the medium term and therefore provide the Council with additional liquidity and financial resilience going forward;

(k)          instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to report back to the relevant committee before December 2018 on a detailed reserves strategy;

Revenue Budget Recommendations

5 Year Revenue Budget Position

(l)            note the draft financial position for 2019/20 to 2022/23 as shown in paragraph 3.40 of the report;

(m)        instruct the Chief Executive to continue to progress the transformation programme, reporting transformation options and associated financial benefits through the approved transformation governance process, in order to address the future years funding gap;

One Year Revenue Budget Position and Taxation

(n)          instruct officers on whether Council is exercising the flexibility to increase Council Tax under the local government finance circular and if so, to what level;

(o)          set a balanced revenue budget for 2018/19 which is a statutory requirement, by noting and agreeing the proposed options contained in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided information to allow the setting of the rent level for the financial year 2018/19 as well as provisional rents for the financial years 2019/20 to 2022/23, which in turn would allow a capital programme for 2018/19 to be set as well as a provisional programme for 2019/20 to 2022/23.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          approve the budget as attached in Appendix 1 (pages 5 to 6) of the report;

(b)          approve the setting of the weekly unrebated rents for municipal houses, as detailed in Appendix 1 (pages 5 to 6) of the report, to take effect from 30 April 2018;

(c)          approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2018/19 as well as a provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Appendix 1 (pages 19 to 20) of the report;

(d)          approve the proposal to maintain the working balances at 10% to meet future contingencies as detailed in Appendix 1 (pages 5 to 6) of the report;

(e)          approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent as detailed in Appendix 1 (pages 16 to 17) of the report;

(f)           approve, based on the rent strategy adopted, the capital programme for the financial year 2018/19 (Appendix 1 - pages 23 to 26);

(g)          note the indicative level of programme for the financial years 2019/20 to 2022/23 (Appendix 1 - pages 23 to 26);

(h)          approve as estimated expenditure in terms of Procurement Regulation 4.1.1, in order for work to commence on the capital programme, the sums shown against each heading of the Housing Capital Expenditure budget for the financial year 2018/19 set out in Appendix 1 (pages 23 to 26) to the report without the need for separate committee approval of each;

(i)            delegate authority to the Director of Resources, following consultation with the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services, to undertake or instruct appropriate procedures in accordance with the ACC Procurement Regulations to procure the works referred to in Appendix 1 (pages 23 to 26) for the capital programme for the financial year 2018/19 and award contracts relating thereto; and

(j)            instruct the Director of Resources to finalise the Housing Business Plan on completion of the Asset Management Plan and present to the relevant future committee.

Councillor Laing moved, seconded by Councilor Macdonald:-

            That the Council -

(1)      approve the budget as attached in Appendix 1 (pages 5 to 6) of the report subject to the resolutions below;

(2)      approve that the weekly unrebated rents for municipal houses be increased by 2.6% for 2018/19, to take effect from 30 April 2018;

(3)      continue to cap rent increases due to rent restructuring at a maximum of £3 per week until model rent is achieved;

(4)      reduce the rent of those above the phasing following rent restructuring to the model rent;

(5)      approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided details of the draft Common Good budget for 2018/19 for consideration.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          approve the Common Good budget for 2018/19 as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report;

(b)          consider and make a decision on each of the new requests for funding detailed in Appendix 3 to the report;

(c)          note the provisional Common Good budget for 2019/20 to 2022/23 as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report;

(d)          note that an initial asset register has been prepared and that work will continue to be undertaken to comprehensively review Common Good assets; and

(e)          note the intention to review the process for dealing with applications to the Common Good Fund from 2019/20.

Councillor Boulton moved, seconded by Councillor Lumsden:-

            That the Council -

(1)      approve the Common Good budget for 2018/19 as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report amended to reflect Appendix 1 of this motion;

(2)      note the provisional Common Good budget for 2019/20 to 2022/23 as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report;

(3)      note that an initial asset register has been prepared and that work will continue to be undertaken to comprehensively review Common Good assets; and

(4)      note the intention to review the process for dealing with applications to the Common Good Fund from 2019/20.

Councillor Flynn moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Jackie Dunbar:-

            That the Council -

(1)      approve the Common Good budget for 2018/19 as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report amended to reflect Appendix 1 of the amendment;

(2)      note the provisional Common Good budget for 2019/20 to 2022/23 as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report;

(3)      note that an initial asset register has been prepared and that work will continue to be undertaken to comprehensively review Common Good assets; and

(4)      note the intention to review the process for dealing with applications to the Common Good Fund from 2019/20.

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided details of the budget included in the 2018/19 - 2022/23 General Fund budget that related to the North East Scotland Pension Fund (NESPF).

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          note the provision in respect of the NESPF contained within the Council’s General Fund budget for 2018/19 to 2022/23; and

(b)          instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to recover, from the NESPF, the actual costs incurred by the Council in acting as the administering authority for the NESPF.

The Council resolved:-

(i)           to approve the recommendations; and

(ii)          to congratulate staff for their work in relation to the key achievements of NESPF.

- BARNEY CROCKETT, Lord Provost.