Agenda item

This report sets out the 2018/19 revenue budget proposals including:

·         Council tax levels

·         Savings and growth proposals

·         Changes to fees and charges

·         Budget risks, reserves and balances

·         Equalities Impact Assessments

7.05pm - In accordance with Council convention, the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, and the Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Joe Carlebach, were given unlimited time to speak on the Budget report.

Speeches on the report were also made by Councillors Sue Macmillan, Sharon Holder, and Max Schmid (for the Administration) – and Councillors Harry Phibbs, and Lucy Ivimy (for the Opposition).

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, then made a speech winding up the debate. The report and recommendations were put to the vote and a roll-call was undertaken, in accordance with Council convention when voting on the budget:

FOR                            AGAINST                  NOT VOTING

Aherne                       (None)                        Adam

Brown (D)                                                      Alford

Cartwright                                                      Botterill

Cassidy                                                          Brown (A)

Chumnery                                                     Carlebach

Coleman                                                        Dewhirst

Connell                                                          Donovan

Cowan                                                           Ffiske

Culhane                                                        Ginn

Harcourt                                                         Hamilton

Holder                                                            Ivimy

Homan                                                           Johnson

Jones                                                             Karmel

Lukey                                                             Law

Macmillan                                                      Loveday

Morton                                                            Nsumbu

Murphy                                                          Phibbs

Needham                                                      Smith

Perez                                                              Stainton

Schmid

Umeh

Vaughan

Vincent

FOR                            23

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING           19

The report and the recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.40pm – RESOLVED

1.         To freeze the Hammersmith & Fulham element of the council tax charge, and not apply the 3% increase modelled by the Government for the coming year.

2.         To not apply the “social care precept” levy of 3% as modelled by the Government for the coming year.

3.         To set council tax for 2018/19 for each category of dwelling, as calculated in accordance with Sections 31A to 49B of the Localism Act 2011, as outlined below and in full in Appendix A of the report:

(a)       The element of council tax charged for Hammersmith & Fulham Council will be £727.81 per Band D property in 2018/19

(b)       The element of council tax charged by the Greater London Authority will be £294.23 per Band D property in 2018/19

(c)        The overall Council Tax to be set at £1,022.04 per Band D property in 2018/19.

(d)        The Social Care Precept set at nil

4.      To set the Council’s own total net expenditure budget for 2018/19 at £138.944m.

5.      To approve £6.5m new spend on key council services.

6.      To approve fees and charges as set out in paragraph 6.1, including freezes for all parking charges, and all fees and charges in children’s services, adult social care, housing, markets and libraries.

7.      To approve the planned additional contribution of £0.620m to the Efficiency Projects Reserve and estimated contribution of £2.6m from the benefit receivable from the London 100% business rates retention pilot.

8.      To note the budget projections, made by the Strategic Finance Director to 2021/22 in consultation with the Senior Leadership Team

9.      To note the statement made by the Strategic Finance Director under Section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003 regarding the adequacy of reserves and robustness of estimates (section 14).

10.    To authorise the Strategic Finance Director to collect and recover National Non-Domestic Rate and Council Tax in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (as amended), the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and the Council Schemes of Delegation.

11.    To require all Directors report on their projected financial position compared to their revenue estimates in accordance with the Corporate Revenue Monitoring Report timetable.

12.    To authorise Directors to implement their service spending plans for 2018/19 in accordance with the recommendations within this report and the Council's Standing Orders, Financial Regulations and relevant Schemes of Delegation.

13.    Members’ attention is drawn to S106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 which requires any Member, who is two months or more in arrears on their Council Tax, to declare their position and not to vote on any issue that could affect the calculation of the budget or Council Tax.