The Constitution provides that amendments to Executive’s budget recommendation are to be submitted by 4:00pm on the seventh day after the meeting of Executive.

The Chair next invited Councillor Leech to present his budget amendment. In doing so, Councillor Leech proposed the following:

1.     To allocate a budget of £770,000, subject to consultation,to enable the Council to deliver a Council Tax rebate to Manchester residents in receipt of the maximum Council Tax support equivalent to increasing the maximum support from 85% to 87.5%; to be funded through the transfer from the General Fund Reserve. 

2.     To allocate a budget of £75,000, subject to consultation, to enable the Council to deliver a Council Tax rebate to Manchester residents in receipt of the maximum Council Tax support equivalent to the increase that they would be expected to pay to cover the increased precepts for the Police and Fire services and to cover the increase of the Mayoral General precept; to be funded through the transfer from the General Fund Reserve.  

3.     To allocate a budget of £1,000,000 to invest additional resources into highways maintenance, to tackle the backlog of road and pavement repairs and gully repairs, to save money on future accident trip claims and to reduce the ongoing day to day maintenance costs on gully clearing and repairs; to be funded from the Budget Smoothing Reserve. 

4.     To allocate a budget of £350,000 to invest additional resources into CCTV to tackle flytipping hotspots by improving detection rates and increasing enforcement and reducing instances of flytipping and to add or replace unsuitable bins in specific problem spots where existing bin capacity results is insufficient; to be funded from the Budget Smoothing Reserve. 

5.     To allocate a budget of £105,000 to invest additional resources into CCTV enforcement vehicles to tackle specific parking enforcement hotspots; to be funded from the On-street Parking Reserve. 

6.     That a review be carried out on the cost-effectiveness of the parking enforcement income generated by the leasing of additional CCTV enforcement vehicles.

All proposals in this amendment were spending commitments for 2024/2025 only.

The Chair then invited the Executive Member for Finance and Resources to comment on the proposed amendment from Councillor Leech. He stated that local government finances had worsened from 2010 under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government and emphasised that reserves were to be used prudently for preventative strategies and initiatives to reduce demands on key services. He further stated that the Council had increased the maximum Council Tax Support to 85% and adjusted the Universal Credit excess bands to align with this. It was highlighted that £5.5m had been retained to support those residents most in need and it was stated that the Council was doing all it could to provide support considering the budget constraints it faced.

The Leader emphasised the support available to those most in need and that the Executive continued to focus on providing vital services for residents and investing in key priorities.

Some further clarity was sought on Councillor Leech’s amendment and he explained that the additional resources for CCTV enforcement proposed in the amendment was to be used in problem areas and was in addition to the investment already allocated by the Council.

The Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods provided assurances in response to the amendment that the Neighbourhoods service continued to identify ways to improve cleanliness and to tackle flytipping and emphasised the need for reserves to be used prudently.

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport explained that there were currently less than 500 highways repairs to undertake and that the service continued to undertake the planned maintenance programme. She highlighted that the on-street parking reserve was not a form of guaranteed income and that enforcement measures were needed to generate income.

The Chair queried whether members should be nervous about the proposal in the amendment to use an additional £2m of reserves in 2024/25. In response, Councillor Leech disagreed and explained that the proposals within the amendment proposed would not result in the General Reserve Fund decreasing below the acceptable threshold in three years and that many of the proposals were on a spend-to-save basis and would result in long-term financial savings to the Council. In contrast, the Executive Member for Finance and Resources stated that the General Reserve Fund was forecasted to decrease below £20m by the end of 2023/24 and that an additional £10m had been allocated to the reserves since November 2023 to account for demands in adult’s and children’s social care. He stated that the reserves needed to be replenished by £3m next year based on the proposed budget. He also advised that the Council could not predict future demand on reserves.

Decision:

That the committee recommends that Council does not agree to the amendment proposed by Councillor Leech.