POWYS OPPOSITION GROUPS PROPOSE ALTERNATIVE COUNCIL BUDGET

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Immediate release 12/2/21

POWYS OPPOSITION GROUPS PROPOSE ALTERNATIVE COUNCIL BUDGET

The Leaders of Powys County Council’s four opposition groups have today put forward an Alternative Budget for 2021/22 which protects services and cuts the proposed Council Tax rise from 3.9% to just 1.9%.

The Council’s Welsh Liberal Democrat - Green, Welsh Labour, Action for Powys and Plaid Cymru Groups will ask Councillors to consider their proposals later this month.

The move comes after the Council’s Conservative/Independent Cabinet approved plans to cut funding for the arts and cultural services, libraries, outdoor recreation and the closure of public toilet facilities - all while increasing Council Tax by 3.9%.

The Council’s opposition groups say they recognise the significant financial pressure residents in Powys are experiencing because of the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. Their proposals will reduce the proposed Council Tax increase to just 1.9%, reduce the travel budget for Councillors and give services and communities the protection they need to recover from the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Cllr James Gibson-Watt, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrat - Green Group

Cllr Matthew Dorrance, Leader of the Welsh Labour Group

Cllr Jeremy Pugh, Leader of the Action for Powys Group

Cllr Elwyn Vaughan, Leader of the Plaid Cymru Group

Alternative budget proposals

POWYS COUNTY COUNCIL – BUDGET 2021-22

Proposals from the Welsh Liberal Democrat, Welsh Labour, Action for Powys and

Plaid Cymru Groups

Introduction

The Coronavirus pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on residents in our County. Every family in our communities has been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic; and even when we start to return to a more normal way of life, huge challenges will remain.

Residents are under considerable financial pressure and with unemployment rising, workers furloughed and energy bills rising sharply the Cabinet’s proposed Council Tax increase will be unaffordable for a great many people.

It is imperative that Powys County Council must put in place a Budget and plans that support residents and protect household budgets whilst laying the foundations for the recovery.

This paper brings forward a series of proposals to reduce the proposed Council Tax increase whilst protecting services that will deliver on the objectives of the Council’s Corporate Plan.

Budget 2021/22

Council Tax:-

We propose a Council tax increase of 1.9%, utilising the following amendments to the Budget agreed by Cabinet at its meeting of Tuesday 30th January 2021, to fund the resultant Council Tax ‘gap’ of £1.708m.

1. With reference to the Report to Cabinet dated 26th January 2021 - See 3.12 Table 2 (proj. 2020/21 outturn) and 3.45 Table 4 (prop. 2021/22 Budget)

The Corporate activities budget was set at £31.307m in 2020/21. However, as in every year of this Council, this budget is underspent (see below). In large measure this is because of ‘slippage’ in the capital programme, as it is in every year. Given that and the fact that the Capital programme can be adjusted in-year to provide flexibility, we believe it is reasonable to set the Corporate activities base budget at the 2020/21 outturn level – see analysis below.

£m

Corporate activities budget – Projected outturn 2020/21 29.600

Proposed budget 2021/22 36.113

Increase 6.513

Projected ‘growth’ as per Budget report 2021/22– CTRS 0.951

Pay award 0.635 Fire & Rescue levy 0.178

Insurance prem. 0.150

MRP 2.760

4.674

Unallocated 1.839

NB Given the uncertainties inherent in 2021/22, due to Covid-19 and the impact

of Brexit, we propose to retain £0.879 of the unallocated funds in the £m

Corporate Services budget to meet potential extra pressures on e.g. the CTRS

and social care budgets should they arise, in addition to the £1.5m Risk budget

that is already in the Corporate Services revenue budget for this purpose.

We therefore propose to reallocate in the Corporate Activities budget line 0.960

1. Capital strategy

We propose to delete the £5m in the capital programme allocated for loans to

Registered Social Landlords (RSLs). There has apparently been no expressions

of interest from RSLs in Powys for this capital funding in 2021/22. Deletion of

this line will release £75,000 of revenue for reallocation in 2021/22 0.075

(NB This saving increases to £0.250m/yr in future years)

1. Travel

In 2019/20 staff and member travel costs totalled approx. £2m. Due to

reductions in travel caused by Covid-19 it is estimated that this will reduce by

50% to approx.. £1m in 2020/21. It is highly likely that travel by members and

staff will still be curtailed in 2021/22. Education has already proposed £0.0425m

and Members £0.020m travel savings. Despite the hope that service operation

will return gradually towards ‘normality’, we believe it to be reasonable and will

send a powerful message of intent to require travel costs across the Council to

be reduced further by 0.500

1. Council Tax

Every 1% increase in Council Tax produces an average £0.090m extra demand

for CTRS. We propose to set the Council Tax increase at 1.9%, reducing the

CTRS demand by 2% 0.180

Total revenue available for re-allocation 1.719

Reserves

Service transformation processes have been severely curtailed by the pandemic.

We propose to restore funding to the following Savings items identified in the

Budget report to Cabinet, which we believe to be crucial in the county’s

recovery process post Covid-19, to be funded from Reserves on a one-year basis

to assist their transition to alternative operating models:-

HCD03 – Library Service 0.150

HTR07 Countryside Access 0.060

HTR08 Outdoor Recreation 0.040

HTR06 Public Conveniences 0.067

HCD01 Arts Services 0.063

Total 0.380

Reducing the proposed Council Tax increase from 3.9% to 1.9% will require

£1.708m. The above changes release £1.715m, leaving £0.007m contingency.