18 February 2019

Budget agreed for 2019/20

Councillors met on 14 Feb to agree the 2019/20 Aberdeenshire Council budget. During this, elected members discussed the:

Medium Term Financial Strategy
Council’s Revenue Budget for 2019/20 (including setting Council Tax rates)
Council Reserves
Capital Budget for 2019/20
Housing Revenue Account
Carbon Budget.

MTFS
The first paper discussed was the MTFS, or Medium Term Financial Strategy. This is a mechanism which  helps the Council look at all of the budget streams (revenue, capital, reserves, IJB) together, and plan the wider implications of specific changes in any one part of the budget. When looked at as a whole, the wider resources of the Council reach around £1 billion, and require close scrutiny to be managed efficiently. The MTFS was endorsed by Full Council. It was also agreed that we will continue to refine our engagement approach year-on-year, to be sure that the voice of communities is reflected in the budget setting process.

Revenue Budget
Each year, Aberdeenshire Council funding is made up of around 58% in grants from central Government, 25% in Council Tax and 17% in Business Rates. Draft budget proposals were put forward by the Administration, the Partnership and the DIGGs. The Administration’s budget was agreed. Members agreed a revenue budget for the year of just over £565 million. Uppermost in that is the need to deliver services in our communities, or in some places deliver services differently, where the need is changing. An increase in Council Tax of 3% across all bands was approved. (This will take a band D property to £1,240 per year, or £124 per month, not including waste/water charges or any discounts applied). It is intended that the 150 post reductions target, which equates to around 1.5% of the workforce, will be found primarily through vacancy management, re-training or not filling some posts.

Capital budget
Capital expenditure is money invested by the Council on buildings, land, roads, bridges and equipment by either acquiring new assets or extending the life of a fixed asset, similar to a mortgage. In the coming year, Inverurie Community Campus will open to pupils, work will begin to refurbish and extend Viewmount, Stonehaven, and construction will begin on the Stonehaven Flood Alleviation Scheme. Rolling programmes will continue on roads infrastructure, buildings and bridges. Councillors approved the content of the Capital Plan over the next 15 years, which is currently at £882 million.

HRA
The HRA is our Housing Revenue Account. All money received in rent or service charges from Council house tenants is ring-fenced in a dedicated account which in turns goes back into the maintenance and management of the Council Housing estate. Members agreed the detail of the HRA plan for 2019/20. This includes more than £14 million to maintain existing stock, more than £77 million for the HRA capital programme, the new build programme and improvements in line with the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing. 115 new units are forecast to be built (there are currently 12,918). Members also agreed to an increase in weekly rents of 4.9%  from 1st April.

Carbon budget
Part 4 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 places duties on public bodies relating to climate change. Our Carbon Budget (the first of it’s kind when it was introduced), means that each directorate gets an ‘allowance’ of tonnes Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (tCO2e) emissions for 2019/20. Directors and teams will be required to keep within this allowance over the financial year allowing the Council to better manage how it works towards meeting its emission reduction targets. The allocation is reduced year-on-year. Councillors agreed the total for the coming year, as well as the forecast reductions by service.

You can watch an archive of the meeting, in whole or by item, on our webcasting portal. Look for the recent webcasts list.