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The Cabinet considered
a report of the Director of Corporate Services and Chief Finance
Officer, which sought to outline the robustness of the budget, the
key risks and the level of reserves to support the Council’s
financial resilience.
 
The report author
was in attendance to present the
information and to address the questions and the comments of the
Cabinet Members.
 
Resolved:
1.   
That the report be considered prior to the approval of the Revenue
and Capital Budgets, and the approach to General balances and
Reserves as included in the report be endorsed;
2.   
It be noted that the General Fund
Balances will increase to £17m for 2025/26, rising to
£20m by 2026/27.
 
Reason for
decision:
In order to comply
with the Local Government Act, the Chief Finance Officer was
required to provide Council with an opinion as to the robustness of
the Budget being presented to Council
and to ensure the adequacy of general balances and reserves. The
Chief Finance Officer reported formally on the following issues: An
opinion as to the robustness of the estimates made and the tax
setting calculations;
The adequacy of
the proposed financial reserves;
Consideration
of the overall affordability of the capital programme when
determining the prudential indicators;
The production
of longer-term revenue and capital plans.
The Council would be
required to take account of this report when determining its
budget.
 
Alternatives
considered and rejected:
As the statement was a
requirement of the Local Government Act 2003, there were no other
feasible alternatives to consider to be
compliant.
 
The conclusions of the
report were that the proposed budget was robust; risks of growth in
demand led services had been included within the figures. The
proposed level of general balances and reserves were adequate and
at a level that supports the
Council’s longer term viability.