Agenda item

The Cabinet decision on the Budget will be made at the meeting on Wednesday 22 February. The decision notice will be published as Appendix A to this report following that meeting.

The first fifteen minutes of this item were dedicated to allowing members of Council to ask questions about the Budget and Council Tax setting to the Executive Mayor.

In response to questions the Mayor explained the following:

·       That the lack of referendum on the Council Tax setting was necessary due to financial failings of the past political leadership, and that details of the financial support to residents who would struggle would be published in due course;

·       That the increase in Council Tax was part of a wider support package from Central Government;

·       That the council’s upcoming Transformation Programme would deliver savings for residents; and,

·       That the Executive was lobbying Central Government for all avenues of support possible.

The next fifteen minutes of the item were dedicated to allowing members of Council to ask questions of the Cabinet Member for Finance, who responded as follows:

·       That the decision to increase Council Tax was a collective negative and that the Executive would continue lobbying Central Government for other means of support;

·       That the London Borough of Croydon received considerably less funding per capita than inner London councils;

·       That it was incumbent on the Appointments and Disciplinary Committee to make a decision on whether there should be a police investigation into the findings of the Penn Report;

·       That the Labour group had declined to put forward an amended budget as it would not be possible to make any alternative proposals that would not include the proposed rise in Council Tax; and,

·       That the Opening the Books exercise had uncovered two mains sources of loss of funds: the £161m capitalisation direction related to historic issues, and the £49m per year interest payments.

There were then ten minutes dedicated to allowing members of Council to ask questions of the Chair of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee, who first gave thanks to officers who supported Scrutiny, and subsequently responded that:

·       Half the committee had found the Council Tax rise justifiable but that the other half had asked to investigate a menu of options;

·       The options requested had not been provided to the committee, and so alternative budgets could not be formed;

·       Scrutiny would continue monitoring the need for and successes of the Hardship Fund that was in place to support those who could not afford the increase, and to ensure that enforcement on any who did struggle to pay was not heavy-handed; and,

·       They had found that members and officers had been cooperative, engaging and open throughout the budget-setting process, and that people were being honest about the challenges the council faced.

Members then engaged in a debate on the recommendations. Council heard that:

·       It was not fair that residents should pay more to receive a reduction in services;

·       Residents had lost their right to have their say about the Council Tax rise and that the impact would continue for years to come;

·       Housing services had been extremely poor in previous years and residents had been ignored under the Labour leadership of the council, and the lack of a housing strategy had left significant legacy issues for the council;

·       Better commissioning, more efficient systems and better management had led to £1.7m of savings for Children’s Services since May 2022, and that the council now was investing in transformation projects;

·       The Executive Mayor had put forward a statement on tackling crime, and the council had produced its first strategy for ending Violence Against Women and Girls, and that this budget would allow members to continue work in these areas;

In conclusion, the Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Jason Cummings, stated that hard decisions needed to be made, and that it would be unsafe to cut services any further.

Members then voted on the Budget and Council Tax Report and,

RESOLVED, with 34 votes for and 37 votes against, to reject the Budget and Council Tax-setting proposals before Council.

The Leader of the Opposition then summarised the reasons for this resolution, asking the Executive Mayor to revise the proposals in light of the principle objection to the increase in Council Tax levels for this year. Opposition members believed they had not been provided with adequate options, and that they were unable to vote on something without seeing alternatives.

The Green group, which submitted an amendment, added that they wanted it clearly outlined in the budget how residents would access support funding before they could agree to the budget, and that they also wanted to see more focus on environmental issues within the budget.

The Chair then MOVED that an Special Council meeting be scheduled to take place before the Ordinary Council meeting on Wednesday 29 March. This was SECONDED by Councillor Creatura and:

RESOLVED, to hold a Special Council meeting for the appointments of the Civic Mayoralty and Honorary Freedom Selection Committee on 29 March 2023 at 6 pm.