Last years rates
In advance of this year's rates process I thought it would be useful to publish my statement from last year on the process. It will be interesting to see if council has recognized the fundamental responsibility it carries to diligently manage public finances in this years process.
Ulster
Unionist Party Rates Statement
The
Ulster Unionist Party met with the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance
in advance of the rates setting process on the 15th November 2016.
At
that meeting the Chief Executive indicated that it was her intention to bring
forward a recommendation of a rate increase of 2.32% to the rates meeting in
February.
The
rationale outlined for the increase related to the need to address the gap in
organisational infrastructure in relation to Economic Development staffing and
resources.
The
Ulster Unionist Party accepts that it is vital that our Economic Development
and Tourism capacity is brought up to strength to help meet our priority of
growing our local economy, this increase addresses an underinvestment in this
key sector over the last two years.
At
that meeting, based on the information available at the time the Ulster
Unionist Party informed the Chief Executive of two key financial goals that we
would be setting for the remaining period of this council to include the rates
setting process for the next three years.
The
first was that council should be setting a longer term target of achieving a
net 5% reduction in revenue costs during the next three years inclusive of the
increase this year.
The
second target was that council should cap its capital borrowing requirement at £80
million either by the sale of surplus assets or by off-setting the cost of
borrowing by generating income from leasing surplus property.
Since
that meeting we have had an opportunity to review our objectives in light of
additional information and would now update our position.
In
terms of the revenue cost to the ratepayer the Ulster Unionist Party will be
recommending a minimum rate decrease of 2% in each of the next two years. This
is based on the expectation that council can significantly increase the amount
of revenue generated from service delivery and the management of key sites such
as The Braid. We acknowledge that as part of the staffing structure a Business
Improvement Manager will be recruited to drive forward such an increase.
We
have also noted the alternative models of leisure service delivery used by
councils across the UK to significantly increase usage and income. Such
outcomes are achievable in Mid and East Antrim and we expect a new service
delivery model to be introduced by April 1st 2018.
In
terms of capital borrowing we remain committed to the £80 million borrowing cap
and would extend this further by capping the percentage of revenue budget
allocated to meeting borrowing requirements to 15% by the financial year 2019/20.
By emphasising the requirement to proactively manage surplus assets and
recognising the secondment of a staff member from the Strategic Investment
Board for such a purpose, we believe such targets are achievable.
Members
we have reviewed our position because we believe targets should be Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound. These are, they provide the
political leadership and direction to allow council to move forward in the next
two years at the same time as giving confidence to the ratepayer that we have a
grasp of the potential benefits to them from sound fiscal management.
We
would like to have gone further but at this stage it is clear from the 2015/16
Estimates and Actual budgets that there remain significant challenges in
balancing expectations within individual budget lines. Clarity from the final
figures for 2016/17 before the commencement of further discussion on the
2018/19 budget will be helpful.
We
view this process as a budget setting process rather than a rates setting
objective and as such we will continue to use this process to drive forward
operational changes and sound financial governance.
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