Agenda and minutes

The Assistant Director for Democracy, on behalf of all Members and officers present at the meeting, declared a general Non Registrable Interest in respect of items related to the setting of the Council Tax for 2024/2025.

(In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 30.1, it was moved by Councillor Jason Zadrozny and seconded by Councillor Helen-Ann Smith that Procedure

Rule 16.4, in relation to the "Content and Length of Speeches", be suspended for this item only to enable Councillor Rachel Madden (as mover) to deliver her budget speech without a time restriction.  Having been put to the vote, the Council agreed with this course of action.)

The Chairman took the opportunity to advise the Chamber that the town of Sutton in Ashfield had recently been shortlisted for the national ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns 2024’ award. ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ was a national showcase, celebrating hundreds of towns across the UK that were helping businesses and communities to thrive.  The awards ceremony was taking place the following week at the House of Lords and the Chairman would be in attendance to represent the Council.

“Recently there have been references in both the press and on social media about the level of borrowing at Ashfield District Council. 

These messages deliberately ‘paint one side of the story’ and unfairly damage the reputation of the Council, causing unnecessary unrest for our staff and residents.

For this reason, this joint message from myself and the Council’s Chief Finance Officer is to reassure our staff and residents that the Council’s finances are robust and in excellent order. We have a healthy financial position, and our future financial sustainability is not something anyone should be concerned about. Unlike other Councils we are not having to withdraw from our reserves to balance our budget.

Last Thursday evening our 2022/23 Accounts were signed off with an ‘Unqualified Audit Opinion’ which means that the Council’s accounts have been prepared correctly and give a true and fair view. The independent External Auditors report also confirms that Ashfield District Council is a ‘Going Concern’ and that they are satisfied that we have proper arrangements in place for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness – the test used for determining Value for Money. This is something we consistently achieve year on year.

This is the most recent independent financial assessment of the Council assessment and aligns with the independent Financial Health Check undertaken by the Local Government Association (LGA) in December 2021 which confirmed that: ‘The Council is well managed financially and has consistently spent within its budget’. 

Specifically in respect of Ashfield’s debt, our borrowing actually decreased by £6.5m (6.6%) from the end of March 2022 to the end of March 2023, and our level of borrowing is in line with other comparable Nottinghamshire District and Borough Councils of Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, and Newark and Sherwood.

Some of our borrowing is due to the investment properties we own. What is not stated in the press articles is that this borrowing, after paying interest costs, brings in a hugely significant amount of income for the Council to fund local services. In 2024/2025 this net income will bring in £3 million pounds. Without the investment properties we would not have this income, which would mean we would have to cut discretionary and non-essential services by £3 million pounds. This would be a huge loss to our residents. So, we are in an incredibly fortunate position, thanks to the forward-thinking approach of this Council investing, in a business-like manner, to make income which helps to run our services.

It is concerning that in recent months a number of Councils have found themselves issuing a Section 114 notice – essentially declaring themselves bankrupt – being forced to limit service provision to the statutory minimum. Furthermore, it is concerning that an even larger number of Councils have indicated that they too are on the brink of issuing a Section 114 notice.

Please be assured that Ashfield is not one of the Councils who need to consider issuing a Section 114 notice. This Council’s financial position is strong, as evidenced by 2 completely  ...  view the full minutes text for item C.83

Council was requested to approve the recommendations from the Cabinet meeting held on 19 February 2024 in relation to the Annual Budget and Council Tax Setting for 2024/25 and an update for the Medium Term Financial

Strategy (MTFS).

RESOLVED that

a)    a £5.92 annual increase in the level of the District’s own Council Tax for 2024/25, setting the Band D equivalent at £207.13 (representing a 2.94% increase compared with 2023/24), be approved;

b)    the proposed 2024/25 Revenue (General Fund) and HRA Budgets as set out in this report (Sections 3 and 4), be approved;

c)    the proposed Capital Programme and associated borrowing 2023/24 to 2027/28 as set out in this report (Section 5 and Appendix 1), be approved;

d)    the 2023/24 Revised HRA and Capital Budgets as set out in this report (Sections 4 and 5 and Appendix 1), be approved;

e)    the estimated financial challenge in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2025/2026 to 2026/27 and the planned approach to address the challenge (Section 6), be noted;

f)     the proposed use of reserves as set out in this report (Table 6 [General Fund] and Table 9 [HRA]), be approved;

g)    the comments and advice of the Corporate Resources Director (Section 151 Officer), provided in compliance with Section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003, as to the robustness of the estimates included in the 2024/25 Budget and the adequacy of the reserves for which this budget provides (Section 7), be received and accepted;

h)    the proposed 2024/25 budgets reflecting the agreed changes to Fees and Charges approved by Cabinet on 29th January 2024, be noted;

i)     the proposed 2024/25 Capital Strategy (Appendix 2), be noted and approved;

j)     the proposed 2024/25 Treasury Management Strategy (Appendix 3), be noted and approved.

j)

RESOLVED

that the Council Tax levels for 2024/25 on the basis of a Band “D” tax level for the District Council’s own expenditure of £207.13 (2.94% increase), be approved as follows:-

1.    That it be noted that on 11 December 2023 the Council calculated the Council Tax Base for 2024/25

a.    for the whole Council area:  34,524.5

b.    for dwellings in those parts of its area to which a Parish precept relates –

The Parish of Annesley and Felley:  570.6

The Parish of Selston:  3,714.0

2.    That the calculation of the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2024/25 (excluding Parish precepts) is £7,151,060.

3.    That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2024/25 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

5.    That the Council, in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the aggregate amounts shown in the tables below as the amounts of Council Tax for 2024/25 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings.

  2024/25 Council Tax amounts by band: