Agenda item

Purpose of the report

To present draft Budget proposals and estimates for 2025/26 for the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).

Decision

Cabinet made the following recommendations to Council to:

1. Set a General Fund budget requirement of £20.603m for 2025/26 (inclusive of special expenses) as detailed at section 2 of the report and Appendix A.

2. Propose a Council Tax level of £189.37 for 2025/26 (Band D property) after taking into consideration the consultation findings.

3. Note indicative Budget estimates for 2026/27 and 2027/28 (Appendix A).

4. Approve HRA dwelling rent increases of 2.7% for 2025/26 providing an average rent of £100.77 per week.

5. Approve an increase in HRA garage and shared ownership rents of 1.7%.

6. Approve the HRA Revenue Budget 2025/26 and to note the indicative budgets for 2026/27 and 2027/28 (Appendix A).

7. Approve the General Fund Capital programme and financing statement 2025/26 to 2027/28 detailed at Section 6 of the report and Appendix B.

8. Approve General Fund Capital Programme budget carry forward £11.433m from 2024/25 (Appendix B).

9. Approve the Housing Capital programme and financing statement 2025/26 to 2027/28 detailed at Section 6 and Appendix B.

10. To approve the HRA Capital Programme budget carry forward of £2.842m from 2024/25 (Appendix B).

11.Approve the movements in General Fund Reserves detailed in Section 8 of the report and Appendix C, In addition this would include the movement of £2million from the Local Priorities Reserve to the Property Maintenance Reserve.

12.To approve the movements in HRA Reserves detailed at Section 8 of the report and Appendix C.

13.To approve the Treasury Management Strategy Statement detailed at Section 10 and Appendix F.

14.To approve the Capital Strategy detailed at Section 10 of the report and Appendix I.

15. To make no changes to fees and charges related to Muslim burials in the budget setting process for 2026/2027.

Alternative options considered and rejected

No other options were considered – the Council was legally required to set a balanced budget each financial year.

Reasons for the decision

This was the latest report related to the Budget and sought to recommend a balanced budget to Full Council. The report had previously been considered at Joint Budget Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet and had also been subject to a public consultation. This year there had been 767 responses; more than half of these respondents supported the maximum 2.98% increase in Council Tax. This would bring South Kesteven District Council’s share to £189.37 for a band D property, or £3.60 a week per household.

Since the budget proposals had been debated in January the final funding settlement from government had been announced. There was no further funding available for the Council at this time, although drainage board financial support was awaited, as was a final answer on reimbursement for National Insurance increases.

A briefing note on fees and charges related to Muslim burials was considered by Cabinet. This was due to a referral from the Full Council meeting held on 30 January 2025. The current fees had been in place for five years, during which time there had been 4 Muslim burials at Grantham Cemetery. There had been 39 burials in total at the Cemetery. Cabinet agreed to not consider amending charges in the 2025/2026 budget but to consider any changes during the budget setting process in 2026/2027.

The movement of £2million from the Local Priorities Reserve to the Property Maintenance Reserve was required due to the current situation with conditions surveys for Council-owned properties. There was an estimated cost of £5.3 million for Category C dilapidations for non-housing stock, a serious problem that had built up over several years. By committing more money to the Property Maintenance Reserve, the budget could be accelerated and increased as and when necessary.

It was recommended that Council-owned bus station departure charges, market stall charges and leisure centre membership fees were not to be increased for 2025/2026.

Recommendation 2 included the opportunity to take the maximum Council Tax increase; this had been added following the public consultation.

This was the first time that the Treasury Management Strategy and Capital Strategy had been seen by Cabinet. The Treasury Management Strategy had been scrutinised in line with the CIPFA code.

The Council was legally required to set a balanced budget each financial year. The budget report for Full Council on 27 February 2025 would also include the Council Tax Base for 2025/2026 for approval.