Decision details

Having considered an officer report, and a presentation by the Cabinet

Member for Resources, Councillor Kevin Bonavia, the Mayor agreed that:

(i) a Council Tax for 2015/16 of £1,060.35 be recommended for the Council’s

element. This is an increase of 0%, based on a General Fund Budget

Requirement of £246.224m for 2015/16.

(ii) Council be asked to note an overall reduction in the total Council Tax for

2015/16 of 0.29% to include the Greater London Authority (GLA) precept

being reduced by £4 to £295, a 1.3% reduction from its 2014/15 level as

proposed;

(iii) Council be asked to approve the statutory calculation of the Budget

Requirement for Lewisham for 2015/16, attached at Appendix A;

(iv) the Council be asked to approve the motion on the budget, attached at

Appendix B;

(v) the provisional and estimated precept and levies from the GLA and other

bodies be noted;

(vi) the final settlement figure of £160.017m announced on the 3 February be

which is an increase of £0.677m on the provisional settlement figure be noted;

(vii) the impact on the budget gap of savings decisions taken by Mayor and

Cabinet on 11 February 2015 as detailed be noted;

(viii) the overall implications of the increased settlement figure and the savings

decisions which resulted in a net revised Budget requirement figure of

£246.224m, and a revised savings gap of £9.960 (to be met from the New

Homes Bonus reserve and General Reserves) creating a net decrease

of £0.477m in the amount of reserves required to fill the potential budget gap

as reported in the Budget report on the 11 February and as detailed be noted;

(ix) the absence of responses from Business rate payers to the consultation

on the draft Budget which took place from 20 January 2015 to 3 February

2015 be noted;

(x) the Section 25 Statement from the Chief Financial Officer attached at

Appendix D be received.