Cyflwynwyd gan:Cyng / Cllr Ioan Thomas
Decision:
Subject
to the condition noted in Paragraph 15 of the report, in order to be in a
position to cope with the financial situation in 2020/21, that the Cabinet
adopts Option 3, and requests each department to find their share of the £2m
needed to address the minimum resource deficit the Council is likely to face
due to inflation, and to ask the Scrutiny Committees to scrutinise these proposals
in the autumn.
Whilst
reporting, departments should also report on how they intend to cope with any
lack of funding needed to address any deficits in their savings plans.
Minutes:
Submitted by Dilwyn Williams
DECISION
Subject
to the condition noted in Clause 15 of the report, in order to be in a position
to cope with the financial situation in 2020/21, the Cabinet would adopt Option
3, and request for each department to find their share of the £2m needed to
address the minimum resource deficit the Council was likely to face due to
inflation, and to ask the Scrutiny Committees to scrutinise these proposals in
the autumn.
Whilst
reporting, departments should also report on how they intended to cope with any
deficits that needed to be addressed in their savings plans.
DISCUSSION
The report was presented and it was noted, should the worst
implications noted in the report come true, that the Council would be faced
with a difficult situation. It was expressed that the first appendix noted the
historical picture, and it was noted that the grant and the tax increase had
not been sufficient to pay for the inflation.
It was added that the Council had saved £65million over the past 12
years, and that much of this had been achieved through efficiency savings. It
was expressed that identifying efficiency savings was becoming increasingly
difficult for the departments.
It was noted that in order to plan for the year ahead, a fan
chart was to be seen in Appendix 2. It was expressed that it was simple to go
for the centre line in terms of savings, but it was added that there was a 50%
chance that the figure would be higher. It was added that, should the £2.2m of
savings planned since the previous year along with the increase of 3.5% in
Council Tax be taken into consideration, the financial shortfall could be
between £1.7m and £7.3m. It was expressed that over the previous years the
Council had planned for the worst, but it was added that the savings
arrangements for the previous year had highlighted that cuts were already a
necessity, which would be difficult for a number of services. Any further cuts
would be highly challenging and likely to cause alarm to people, be they
residents or staff.
Three options for moving forward were highlighted, and it
was expressed that the Cabinet Member for Finance and the Chief Executive
recommended the third of these options. This option planned to address the
shortfall of £1.7m - to be rounded up to £2m - in the optimistic scenario by
sharing this sum between all departments (and schools), noting that it was an
inflation contribution, and by using balances and/or a higher Council Tax
increase to meet the shortfall above the optimistic scenario so as to give time
to find a permanent solution.
Observations arising from the discussion
¾
It was expressed that the situation was
frightening and alarming, and it was emphasised that year after year, Members
had to go through the savings arrangements again. They were unprepared to do so
again as it was so disheartening.
¾
It was emphasised that there were obvious
differences between the priorities of Welsh Government and the Government in
Westminster.
¾
It was noted that a publication had stated that
a higher pay rise would be awarded to Teachers, which was higher than the
predictions of a 2% rise. It was added that the period of protection for
Education, Children and Adults had now passed, and that it would now be
difficult to find savings without affecting those services.
¾
Council officers were thanked for their work in
foreseeing the likely situation, despite the difficulty of the task. It was
expressed that the Governments' priorities focussed on Brexit and wars,
emphasising that these were not the priorities of the residents of Gwynedd. It
was added that the report set out the rationale for forward planning due to the
lack of basic information available.
Awdur:Dilwyn Williams
Supporting documents: