Agenda item

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 budget for 2018/19 at £20.6million as well as a provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(6)      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;

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

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

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

(10)   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;

(11)   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 Council’s Procurement Regulations to procure the works referred to in Appendix 1 (pages 23 to 26) of the report for the capital programme for the financial year 2018/19 and award contracts relating to it; and

(12)   instruct the Director of Resources to report back to the City Growth and Resources Committee on 19 June 2018 with business cases for the delivery of 2,000 Council houses in conjunction with private developers, as appropriate, working within an affordable capital investment sum of £250million and that each business case must demonstrate the long term affordability and sustainability of the Council’s Housing Revenue Account.

 

 

		Draft Housing Revenue Account Budget			Draft
Actuals			Budget	Out-turn	Budget
2016/17			2017/18	2017/18	2018/19
		Based on the rental policy of 2.6% increase
£000s			£000s	£000s	£000s
		Premises Costs
53	1	Rates	49	63	60
101	2	Rent	102	102	102
26,046	3	Repairs and Maintenance	25,114	26,135	27,685
3,079	4	Maintenance of Grounds	3,279	3,110	3,203
515	5	Gas	663	515	515
2,754	6	Electricity	2,642	2,754	2,754
518	7	Cleaning Service	494	494	500
331	8	Security Service	380	331	341
24	9	Window Cleaning	26	24	26
327	10	Refuse Collection	278	327	337
560	11	Cleaning - Sheltered Housing	566	561	578
239	12	Other Property Costs - Council Tax	282	239	282
34,547			33,875	34,655	36,383
		Administration Costs
46	13	Tenants Incentive Scheme	102	46	102
346	14	Legal Expenses	350	350	350
9	15	Office Tel / Rent	14	10	10
2,811	16	Former Tenants Arrears	2,000	2,000	2,000
9,272	17	Charges - Services Admin & Management.	9,484	9,365	9,745
16	18	General Consultancy	60	60	60
25	19	Training for Front Line Staff	103	100	100
63	20	Benefits Staff	61	61	63
160	21	Charges - Tenants Participation	206	206	206
208	22	Charges for Environmental Health	201	210	217
12,956			12,581	12,408	12,853
		Supplies & Services
166	23	Provision of Meals	155	155	155
5	24	Television Licence	16	8	8
160	25	Integrated Housing System	254	254	254
331			425	417	417
		Agencies
81	26	Mediation Service	82	82	83
81	27	Energy Advice	82	82	83
14	28	Benefits Advice	14	14	14
39	29	Disabled Persons Housing Service	39	39	39
0	30	Ethnic Minority Worker	15	0	0
215			232	217	219
		Transfer Payments
395	31	Aberdeen Families Project	465	465	645
809	32	Loss of Rent - Council Houses	865	1,078	1,106
417	33	Loss of Rent - Garages, Parking etc	436	430	444
131	34	Loss of Rent - Modernisation Works	109	109	109
268	35	Haudagain Payments	301	301	0
102	36	Supporting People Contribution	0	0	0
22,911	37	CFCR	21,700	21,753	20,641
25,033			23,876	24,136	22,945
		Capital Financing Costs
6,001	38	Loans Fund Instalment	6,874	7,034	7,249
6,911	39	Loans Fund Interest	7,999	6,000	6,670
12,912			14,873	13,034	13,919
85,994		Expense Total	85,862	84,867	86,735
		Income
(23)	40	Ground Rentals	(26)	(23)	(23)
(81,866)	41	Dwelling Houses Rent Income	(81,720)	(80,820)	(82,688)
(2,094)	42	Housing - Heat with Rent Income	(2,089)	(2,097)	(2,097)
(1,265)	43	Housing - Garages Rent Income	(1,263)	(1,291)	(1,291)
(223)	44	Housing - Parking Spaces Rent	(220)	(196)	(196)
(4)	45	Housing - Insurance Income	0	(2)	(2)
(621)	46	Housing - Other Service Charge	(547)	(540)	(540)
(318)	47	Legal Expenses	(350)	(318)	(318)
(80)	48	Revenue Balance Interest	(147)	(80)	(80)
(86,495)		Income Total	(86,362)	(85,367)	(87,235)
(501)		Net Expenditure	(500)	(500)	(500)

 

 

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

            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 4.6% for 2018/19, to take effect from 30 April 2018;

(3)      approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2018/19 at £22.7million as well as a provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(4)      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;

(5)      approve the transfer of £1.9million from the working balances to fund the Solid Wall Insulation programme in 2018/19;

(6)      approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges excluding Meals at Denmore and Kingswood, including Heat with Rent as detailed in Appendix 1 (pages 16 to 17) of the report;

(7)      approve an increase of £2.50 per week for Demore and Kingswood and instruct the Director of Customer Services to report to a relevant future committee to review the policy to ensure the costs of meals are reflective of the cost of services;

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

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

(10)   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) of the report without the need for separate committee approval of each;

(11)   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 Council’s Procurement Regulations to procure works referred to in Appendix 1 (pages 23 to 26) for the capital programme for the financial year 2018/19 and award contracts relating to it;

(12)   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;

(13)   instruct the Director of Resources to report back to the relevant future committee with a business case for the acquisition of ex-Council properties in buildings where the Council is the majority owner and the income stream generated would cover the cost of acquisition as well as any other properties that were previously Council owned; and

(14)   instruct the Director of Resources to report back to the City Growth and Resources Committee on 19 June 2018 with business cases for the delivery of 2,000 Council houses in conjunction with private developers, as appropriate, working within an affordable capital investment sum of £250million and that each business case must demonstrate the long term affordability and sustainability of the Council’s Housing Revenue Account, and the Council continue the good practice of consulting our tenants as we currently do in regard to any significant change in rent policy or strategy, which is in line with national guidance of involving tenants in the major decision process and with consultation with the Housing Performance and Budget Group and the Tenant Participation Group.

 

 

		Draft Housing Revenue Account Budget			Draft
Actuals			Budget	Out-turn	Budget
2016/17			2017/18	2017/18	2018/19
		Based on the rental policy of 4.6% increase
£000s			£000s	£000s	£000s
		Premises Costs
53	1	Rates	49	63	60
101	2	Rent	102	102	102
26,046	3	Repairs and Maintenance	25,114	26,135	27,685
3,079	4	Maintenance of Grounds	3,279	3,110	3,203
515	5	Gas	663	515	515
2,754	6	Electricity	2,642	2,754	2,754
518	7	Cleaning Service	494	494	500
331	8	Security Service	380	331	341
24	9	Window Cleaning	26	24	26
327	10	Refuse Collection	278	327	337
560	11	Cleaning - Sheltered Housing	566	561	578
239	12	Other Property Costs - Council Tax	282	239	282
34,547			33,875	34,655	36,383
		Administration Costs
46	13	Tenants Incentive Scheme	102	46	102
346	14	Legal Expenses	350	350	350
9	15	Office Tel / Rent	14	10	10
2,811	16	Former Tenants Arrears	2,000	2,000	2,000
9,272	17	Charges - Services Admin & Management.	9,484	9,365	9,745
16	18	General Consultancy	60	60	60
25	19	Training for Front Line Staff	103	100	100
63	20	Benefits Staff	61	61	63
160	21	Charges - Tenants Participation	206	206	206
208	22	Charges for Environmental Health	201	210	217
12,956			12,581	12,408	12,853
		Supplies & Services
166	23	Provision of Meals	155	155	155
5	24	Television Licence	16	8	8
160	25	Integrated Housing System	254	254	254
331			425	417	417
		Agencies
81	26	Mediation Service	82	82	83
81	27	Energy Advice	82	82	83
14	28	Benefits Advice	14	14	14
39	29	Disabled Persons Housing Service	39	39	39
0	30	Ethnic Minority Worker	15	0	0
215			232	217	219
		Transfer Payments
395	31	Aberdeen Families Project	465	465	645
809	32	Loss of Rent - Council Houses	865	1,078	1,128
417	33	Loss of Rent - Garages, Parking etc	436	430	444
131	34	Loss of Rent - Modernisation Works	109	109	109
268	35	Haudagain Payments	301	301	0
102	36	Supporting People Contribution	0	0	0
22,911	37	CFCR	21,700	21,753	22,660
25,033			23,876	24,136	24,985
		Capital Financing Costs
6,001	38	Loans Fund Instalment	6,874	7,034	7,249
6,911	39	Loans Fund Interest	7,999	6,000	6,670
12,912			14,873	13,034	13,919
85,994		Expense Total	85,862	84,867	88,776
		Income
(23)	40	Ground Rentals	(26)	(23)	(23)
(81,866)	41	Dwelling Houses Rent Income	(81,720)	(80,820)	(84,229)
(2,094)	42	Housing - Heat with Rent Income	(2,089)	(2,097)	(2,097)
(1,265)	43	Housing - Garages Rent Income	(1,263)	(1,291)	(1,291)
(223)	44	Housing - Parking Spaces Rent	(220)	(196)	(196)
(4)	45	Housing - Insurance Income	0	(2)	(2)
(621)	46	Housing - Other Service Charge	(547)	(540)	(540)
(318)	47	Legal Expenses	(350)	(318)	(318)
(80)	48	Revenue Balance Interest	(147)	(80)	(80)
(86,495)		Income Total	(86,362)	(85,367)	(88,776)
(501)		Net Expenditure	(500)	(500)	(0)
		Projected Working balance at 1 April 2018			10,737
		T/F balance for CFCR for Solid Wall Insulation			-1,900
		Projected Working balance at 1 April 2019			8,827

 

 

Councillor Delaney moved as a further amendment, seconded by Councillor Greig:-

            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 4.6% for 2018/19, to take effect from 30 April 2018;

(3)      approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2018/19 at £22.2million as well as a provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(4)      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;

(5)      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;

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

(7)      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 this report without the need for separate committee approval of each;

(8)      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 Council’s 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 to it;

(9)      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;

(10)   instruct the Director of Resources to report back to the City Growth and Resources Committee on 19 June 2018 with business cases for the delivery of 2,000 Council houses in conjunction with private developers, as appropriate, working within an affordable capital investment sum of £250milllion and that each business case must demonstrate the long term affordability and sustainability of the Council’s Housing Revenue Account; and

(11)   instruct the Director of Resources to report back to the relevant future committee with a business case for the acquisition of ex-Council properties in buildings where the Council is the majority owner and the income stream generated would cover the cost of acquisition as well as any other properties that were previously Council owned.

 

During the course of summing up, Councillor Laing agreed to accept part (13) of Councillor Jackie Dunbar’s amendment on a case by case basis.

 

There being a motion and two amendments, the Council first divided between the amendment by Councillor Jackie Dunbar and the amendment by Councillor Delaney.

 

On a division, there voted:-

 

For the amendment by Councillor Jackie Dunbar  (19)  -  Councillors Allard, Alphonse, Cameron, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Jackie Dunbar, Flynn, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, Catriona MacKenzie, McLellan, McRae, Nicoll, Noble, Samarai, Sandy Stuart and Townson.

 

For the amendment by Councillor Delaney  (3)  -  Councillors Delaney, Greig and Yuill.

 

Declined to vote  (23)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Allan, Bell, Boulton, Lesley Dunbar, Duncan, Graham, Grant, Houghton, Hunt, Imrie, John, Laing, Lumsden, Macdonald, Avril MacKenzie, Malik, Mason MSP, Reynolds, Sellar, Jennifer Stewart and Wheeler.

 

The Council then divided between the motion and the amendment by Councillor Jackie Dunbar.

 

On a division, there voted:-

 

For the motion  (23)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Allan, Bell, Boulton, Lesley Dunbar, Duncan, Graham, Grant, Houghton, Hunt, Imrie, John, Laing, Lumsden, Macdonald, Avril MacKenzie, Malik, Mason MSP, Reynolds, Sellar, Jennifer Stewart and Wheeler.

 

For the amendment by Councillor Jackie Dunbar  (22)  -  Councillors Allard, Alphonse, Cameron, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Delaney, Jackie Dunbar, Flynn, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, Catriona MacKenzie, McLellan, McRae, Nicoll, Noble, Samarai, Sandy Stuart,Townson and Yuill.

 

The Council resolved:-

to adopt the motion and part (13) of Councillor Jackie Dunbar’s amendment on a case by case basis.