Agenda item

To consider the Council’s draft budget proposals for 2009/10:

a)      Fees and Charges for all Council services

b)      Corporate Services Department and Chief Executive’s Office

c)      Feedback from Overview and Scrutiny Panels and overall conclusions

The Commission were asked to comment on the proposed fees and charges as set out in Appendix A of the agenda papers and endorse the Executive recommending to Council that they be approved. In addition, the Commission were asked to endorse the Executive recommending to Council that the Free Swimming Scheme as outlined in paragraph 5.8 of the agenda papers be implemented from 1 April 2009.

The Executive Member informed the Commission that council tax contributed 63% towards the total net budget, 30% was from business rates and the remaining 7% was from the Government, which for Bracknell Forest totalled around £4millon. Only £22 million of the £50 million collected in Non-Domestic rates was returned to the Council by Government.

It was noted that the Family Tree Nursery was currently operating at a loss, it was operating at below full occupancy and charges were below market rates. A 10% increase in fees was proposed in the report. It was noted that nursery places were subsidised and would continue to be subsidised. The Executive Member reported that the aim was to get the nursery operating successfully with full occupancy and that an increase of 10% in fees should achieve this.

Members’ expressed concern that a 10% increase in the cost of charges at the crematorium was proposed. The Chief Officer: Financial Services reported that the proposed charges would bring Bracknell Forest into line with comparable charges being made by other local authorities. The Executive Member reported that the charges for the service needed to reflect the cost of the service and a 10% increase, which applied to discretionary items rather than the main cost of cremation, would achieve this.

The Chief Officer Financial Services reported that the final Local Government Financial Settlement reflected the provisional settlement. It was noted that the grant increase from a national perspective would be 1.75% in 2009/10 and 1.5% in 2010/11. 

It was noted that the overall position was that there was a £4m gap in the summary of proposals for expenditure which the Executive would need to tackle. 

Members expressed concerns that having been assured that the Job Evaluation Scheme was robust, it was now proposed to spend £50,000 more on improving it. The Director of Corporate Services reported that other local authorities had faced major losses over the last 2-3 years over unequal pay claims. Unions were becoming very active in this area and were putting pressure on local authorities concerning equal pay claims. The Commission decided to refer further consideration of this issue to the Employment Committee.

It was reported that the £50,000 would allow a pilot to be carried out as well as an assessment of risk to the authority, e.g. the opportunities for equal pay claims. The findings of this process would be important for the Employment Committee to assess the risks and strengths of the existing scheme and to propose amendments to the Scheme to the Executive.

Councillor McLean asked for further information on bus contract virements outlined on page 297 of the agenda papers.

It was noted that the overall request for funding for the Capital Programme 2009/10 would be in excess of £9.65million.

It was RESOLVED that the Commission:

i)                    Endorse the Executive’s recommendation to Council that the fees and charged as set out in Appendix A of the agenda papers be approved and that Council note the comments raised by the Commission as above.

ii)                   Endorse the Executive’s recommendation to Council that the Free Swimming Scheme as outlined in paragraph 5.8 of the report be implemented from 1 April 2009.

iii)                 Endorse the Executive’s recommendations to Council concerning the General Fund revenue budget and capital programme for 2009/10 to 2011/12.