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Involvement with budgetary process

Each year the Council plans its spending for the following year. Do you know where the money comes from? Do you know how we make decisions? Do you run a mile when people mention budgets?

Budget Consultation

1. Public consultation

Public consultation is a key element in the budget setting process and public opinion was sought for the 2004/05 budget in two ways.

i. A public forum comprising an invited group representing a range of interests within the community was held on 26th November 2003. The primary purpose of this meeting was to provide the group with information on the budget setting process. On 20th January 2004 this group was reconvened as mentioned in paragraph 3.2 above, and a summary of the proceedings is attached as the Gold Appendix.

ii. A questionnaire has been produced in consultation with the Chairmen of Resources and Finance and Overview and Scrutiny Committees and this has been made available on the Council's web site and at Community Information Points.

2. Summary of Findings

A summary of the findings from the questionnaire is shown below. Only 26 responses were received.

  • All of the respondents pay Council Tax to Bridgnorth District Council.
  • Three quarters of the respondents indicated that they thought it was important that the Council improves cleanliness and safety and encourages recycling throughout the District by the introduction of a wheeled bin service.
  • The Council wants to make access to services easier for people by increasing the amount of services that can be accessed electronically. These services include the facility to pay Council Tax online and to make online planning applications. Over half of the respondents indicated a high/medium priority to this initiative.
  • The Council proposes to support and contribute to the Bridgnorth Community Partnership, which aims to promote the economic, social and environmental well-being and to improve the quality of life in the community. The proposal to offer £10,000 to the partnership was well supported by the respondents, with over 70% giving a high/medium priority.
  • Half of the respondents supported the idea of employing an additional Planning Enforcement Officer to help enforce any conditions attached to planning proposals.
  • Other proposals included in the questionnaire were not so well supported, with more than half of the respondents indicating that Addressing Business Risk by offering management training to Councillors and Staff as a low priority.
  • The Council wishes to keep residents informed about the services and benefits it provides and almost 70% of the responses indicated that they thought the way the council does this is average or above.
  • The improvements to the services mentioned in the survey will incur an increase in Band D council tax of £4.14 per annum. Half of those who responded thought that such an increase was a low priority.

Although the sample sizes were small, the general consensus of responses was either high or medium or average and above to the questions asked.  All of the 26 respondents wished to be involved in future consultation exercises.

Gold Appendix

Summary of the Council Tax Forum and Budget Setting Workshop, 20th January 2004, at 6.30 pm in the Council Chambers, Westgate.

Attendees:

Cllr M Wood - Leader of the Council
Cllr M Pate - Chair of Resource and Finance Committee
Alan Martin - Director of Resources
John Harmeston - Chief Executive
Steve Ogram - Head of Finance
Mark Groves - Corporate Support Officer
Annie Bradley - Corporate Support Officer (Best Value)

Members of the Public:

Mr K Turner
Mr K Nichols
Mr H Davies - Chamber of Commerce
Mrs K Davies - Chamber of Commerce
Mr J Gilbert - Fair Trade
Mr D Greece  
Mr D Fentor - Much Wenlock Civic Society
Mrs Fentor - Much Wenlock Civic Society
Mr D Bond - Bridgnorth Civic Society
Mr M Clarke - Dept of Work and Pensions
Mrs D Kaye  
Mrs V Powell - Highley Derby & Joan Club
Mr G Baker  

Invitations have been sent to all residents in the District that have completed previous Council Tax consultation and that had indicated that they would like to be involved in future consultation. We also issued invitations to various Agencies in the Bridgnorth District.

The purpose of the meeting was to consult with members of the public from around the Bridgnorth District to inform on Local Government Finance and gain feedback on the choices (Improvement v Affordability) on the draft budget proposals and level of Council Tax.

Mr Harmeston welcomed all present.

Para no  Details
1  Cllr Wood gave a political introduction.
He then advised that Bridgnorth's share of the council tax income collected was only 8%, the next lowest council tax in Shropshire is 38% higher. He posed the question, why are we able to deliver quality services and additional services for less, when the neighbouring councils charge far more and provide less service? He advised that this is to be investigated in 2004/05.
2  Mr Martin provided a brief recap of the previous session held on the 21st November 2003 on How the Council Tax charge is split between the District, Police, Fire, County and Town and Parish Councils.  For an average D band property in the District the annual Council Tax for 2003/04 is £86.22 compared to the next nearest charge in Shropshire of £119.03 in North Shropshire.
3

The Base Budget.
Without any additional expenditure for improvements in service a reduction of 6% in council tax could be made. However, growth bid proposals have been submitted for £420,000, which would represent a 26% increase in council tax. Clearly not affordable.  The presentation on 'Target Increase' - Affordability v Service Improvement was then put to the public for debate.  Mr Martin explained that £180,000 was being made available for service improvement but bids for £420,000 had been received from Service Heads.  Questions were asked throughout the presentation as follows:

Q - Is it true that Bridgnorth only get an 8% share because of its historic low demands in the past?
A - No. We calculate what we need to raise in Council Tax.  This is then added to the Council Tax of other Authorities to give the Total Council Tax bill.  The percentage is what it is.

Q - How can we make comparisons to neighbouring authorities when we do not know what services they deliver?
A - Cllr Pate advised that the Council is to investigate the efficiencies and effectiveness of local authorities in Shropshire with a view to learning from the comparisons.  A report will be presented to Resources and Finance Cttee.

3.1 Car Parking Management
Provision for residents all day parking versus businesses request for short-term spaces for rapid turnover, these charges need to be balanced.
Q - Would it be possible in the future for the Council to make a provision of further car parking in the District?
A - Car parks comes from Capital funds. A project to provide a tarmac surface at the New Road Site in Much Wenlock is included within the budget proposals for capital.
3.2 Concessionary Fares
These have been reviewed to assist use of public transport throughout the County.
No comments were received.
4 Growth Bids
Statutory requirement - Licensing
4.1

The government have stated that the cost of this should be cost neutral to local authorities however, there has been no evidence to date that this will be the case.

Q - when did the new legislation start?
A - The Liquor Licensing Act came into force 10th July 2003, however, the Statutory Instrument has yet to be passed, followed by a 6 month gap before the District actually becomes involved in issuing Licences.

Cllr Wood advised that the Council is having to consult and employ staff to set up the new system and it is not known if all the set up costs will be recoverable. He also advised that once an individual licence has been issued to someone, the licence stays with them and they can move any where around the country with only a paper trail, no central computerised system has been established.

4.2 Addressing Business Risk
Mr Harmeston compared the District Council to a 'Big Business' in that it has an annual turnover in the region of £55 million per year.  Jobs and culture are changing, Leadership and Management need to change
5 Corporate Priorities
5.1 Community & Economic Regeneration:
No comments were made.
5.2

Effective Waste Management:
Comment - At the last meeting no one in attendance wanted a fortnightly bin collection

Q - How is a fortnightly collection going to reduce the amount of waste collected? Surely providing large wheelie bins will encourage more waste?
Q - what size are the bins going to be?
A - Unsure, this will be a critical decision. The options are up to about 240 litres.

Q- How many wheelie bins will be supplied? Have we got to put garden waste in one week and household waste in the next?
A - 2 bins will be provided

Comment - 2 weeks is too long for food waste, fish etc for it to sit around homes.
A - We need to educate people to separate waste, to be responsible for their waste and recycle wherever possible. Separate boxes are being provided with leaflets offering advice.

Q - What about areas where wheelie bins just will not work, the town streets, dangerous roads, and terraced houses etc?
A - We have been purchasing new vehicles that can deal with collecting wheelie bins where possible and also collecting bags for areas that are not suitable for wheelie bins. Exemptions will be an operational decision for the Head of Works.

Q - Could the council not provide skips so that residents can put their rubbish in that the council could empty daily?
A - The problem is that there are no landfill sites left. We need to recycle, or even incinerate, but where could we build? Shropshire County Council is charged £11 per tonne of waste that is put into each landfill site in tax by the Government.

Q -What about cardboard?
A - The new boxes will be used for cardboard.

Q- What about waste collections for business?
A - There are no proposals to change commercial collection arrangements.

Comment - There was a general consensus of support for recycling, but a mixed response to the acceptability of a fortnightly collection

5.3 Electronic Access to Services:
No comments were made
5.4 Decent and Affordable Homes:

Q - what is affordable housing in the District?
A - A rent that is less than a commercial rent. It is impossible to define what affordable housing is, it is relative.
A - The Council try via its planning policy to ensure that all new developments contain smaller (hence 'affordable') houses as part of that development. The Policy is that 40% of new houses built in the District must be small houses.

Comment - My son and daughter want to live where they have grown up but they cannot afford to purchase houses.
Comment - Many people complain that their children cannot afford to stay in their local area.
Comment - You say that new developments must include affordable housing; the majority of new homes built are at least £200,000.
A - It has been over 20 years since Local Authorities have been permitted to build affordable housing.  The Council has decided to reduce second home discount to 10% and long-term empty property discounts to 0% to encourage better utilisation of the housing stock.
It is hoped that some accommodation at the affordable end of the market will become available.

5.5 Performance Management and Value for Money:
No comments were made.
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General Discussion

Q - Why has there been an increase of 13.4% in direct staffing costs over the last 12 months?
A - Staff costs have not risen by 13.4%. The direct staff costs that you have calculated include salaries, accommodation, stationery, phone charges, also many employees have salary scales that include incremental pay increases.  Also with new legislation new posts have had to be created. The underlying increase in salaries was 3.5%.  The Head of Finance will undertake a reconciliation exercise for you to explain the actual increase in salary costs.

Cllr Pate pointed out that there are a number of posts within the council that are financed externally, but accommodation charges including stationery and telephones have to be financed by the council.

Comment - Parking charges, what about Tesco? They just want people to get in and then get out, but Bridgnorth is a destination town. Visitors and local people want to do a little shopping, have a bite to eat and catch up with friends, so a 2-hour charge is far too short.
Comment - Short term parking for 2 hours will damage small business, parking must be convenient for visitors to stay in the town.
A - Westgate parking spaces will be available at weekends for a charge, allowing visitors to walk into town.
Comment - ' I strongly object to walking into town and then having to pay for the privilege'.
Comment - All the festivals encourage more visitors, the area is now much more attractive to visitors, 2 hours will not be sufficient, we need to value our visitors.

Q - When will the District Council be taking over responsibility for road traffic fines, Decriminalisation?
A - Decriminalisation has been delayed, the County want car-parking orders in a number of Districts and Market Towns to be reviewed before this can be enforced, possibly 2 years away yet.
Comment - Traffic wardens discourage visitors who do not like to be harassed.
Comment - the Chamber of Commerce would like the opportunity to give further comments on these issues.

Comment - I expected someone from the fire service to be here again as I have some ideas for them.
A - They now propose to hold separate consultation and we would provide details so that you can contact them directly.
Comment - We no longer blame the District Council when all the charges increase on the Council Tax bills.
Comment - The Chamber of Commerce now realise how important it is to consult.
Cllr Pate stated 'We are your Council'

7

Mr Martin advised that further consultation would be posted on the Council's web site and at the Community Information Points

Mr Harmeston, Mr Martin and Councillors Wood and Pate thanked all for attending and for their valuable comments.

Feedback from this consultation will presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 4th February 2004.

A letter of apology was received with the following comments:

'I do appreciate the difficulties under which you are working, which were well explained at the last meeting and I understand that whatever you do at BDC to keep next year's council tax bill down is overshadowed by the County Council requirements for Education etc. over which you have no control'.

'However, I notice from the Report that a large proportion of your costs under the various headings are direct staffing costs and this must be the area where BDC and more importantly, the County Council must keep under control. I know only too well how tempting it is to increase staff and how difficult it is to reduce staff when times are hard. In Industry one had little choice but to lose staff in the bad times. I was always amazed what little effect losing office staff had on the running of the business. I am not suggesting that BDC make staff redundant, but I do think that you should try to avoid increasing staff numbers. It should always be possible to improve efficiency in working'

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