Agenda and minutes

            The minutes of the meeting of 11th December were taken as read and signed as correct.  It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 5th January.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information and Purpose of Report

      Members will recall that, at the November meeting of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, the following process was agreed for setting the district rate and agreeing the estimates for 2010/11.

      The purpose of this report is to:

·         update Members on progress;

·         agree a number of outstanding rates issues;

·         set the cash limits for Departmental Committees; and,

·         agree the estimates for the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee.

Key Issues

A.   UPDATE ON PROGRESS

At the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on 11 December 2009, the following was agreed:

(a)   a further £1m to be invested in the City Investment Strategy;

(b)   a minimum of £2.5m to be set aside as a contribution from the rates to reserves;

(c)   a £1m efficiency programme to be developed and reported back to the Committee; and

(d)   the £2m savings from the efficiency programme and the voluntary redundancy (VR) exercise to also be invested in reserves, with a maximum of £1m of this to be potentially invested in the capital programme when capital plans are agreed.

      The table below summarises the current position in relation to the rate setting for 2010/11, taking into consideration the above recommendations of 11 December 2009, Departmental estimates have been reduced by the £2m savings from the efficiency programme and VR exercise and the £2m has been invested in reserves. As can be seen from the table, the overall rates position is a 7.81% increase which equates to a 3.35% increase to the domestic ratepayer.  Members should note that 68% of the increase in the rate is attributable to the need to replenish reserves. Departmental estimates, which equate to 90% of overall Council expenditure, are proposed to increase the rates by some 0.59% reflecting a concerted drive to control costs and maximise savings.

      Each main element of the table is discussed in more detail in the report below.

B.  RESOLUTION OF OUTSTANDING ISSUES

      Following the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee meeting on 11 December, there were a number of issues that needed to be confirmed or further reports were to be provided to the Committee. These issues are set out below and were discussed at the Budget and Transformation Panel on 21 December.

(i)   Movement in Reserves

(i)    The reserves in Belfast City Council had historically been in a strong position, being some £15.4m at the end of 2007/08. However, since then reserves have been significantly reduced  due to:

(ii)   the need to repay the Land and Property Services (LPS) some £4.1m because of their over estimation of how much the rates would yield in 2007/08;

(iii)  the use of reserves to fund the capital programme; and

(iv)  the contribution from reserves to the overall rate setting process.

Most recently, in December 2009, the Director of Finance and Resources reported to the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee that by the end of 2009/10 the reserves were forecast to be some  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.