Agenda item

Draft Council Budget 2025/26 and Medium Term Financial Plan 2025/26 to 2028/29

To consider the contents of the draft budget 2025/26 initially noted and endorsed at Cabinet on 3 December 2024.

The Committee have chosen at this meeting to focus on any outstanding pressures, budget reductions and income proposals and review the contents of the Committee’s report on draft budget proposals.

The Committee may need to consider excluding the public and press in accordance with Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, should it wish to discuss specific exempt proposals.

Any recommendations the Committee may formulate from this item will be included in the Committee’s report on draft budget proposals which will be presented to Cabinet and Council in February.

Minutes:

The Committee recommenced their scrutiny of the 2025/26 Draft Budget by considering any outstanding pressures that had not yet been discussed in a challenge meeting.

Discussions were held on the following proposals:

P25-40N Customer Experience & Digital Channel Income (-26k)

The Committee noted that this was an income target that had not been reached for the last few years and could no longer be absorbed by underspends in other areas.

P25-43N Heritage & Design Income (-140k)

Similarly to P25-40N the Committee noted that this was an income target that had not been reached for some years and following reductions to the team it was also unlikely to be achievable moving forwards. Members of the Committee added that they felt it important to review the lessons learnt from this shortfall and the prudence of including such targets in the budget in future years.

P25-33L Planning Income (150k in 2026/27 and 450k in 2027/28) and P25-34L Land Charge Income (30k in 2025/26 and 60k in 2026/27)

The Committee were informed that these lines were the reversal of a previously anticipated shortfall in planning income following an increase in applications being received by the council. The Committee commended the prudence of close monitoring of expected income and the adjustments being made in a timely manner.

OP25-6L Milton Keynes International Festival (250k)

Members of the Committee queried the inclusion of this item as a one-off pressure considering that the Council had been supporting the International Festival for several years. The Director of Finance and Resources responded that it had been included in the one-off pressures as it was not a continuous expense as the festival was held every other year and the Council was under no obligation to continue to fund the festival indefinitely. He added that should this expense be moved into the base budget alternative funding sources would need to be identified for it.

OP25-8L Local Elections (500k in 2026/27, 475k in 2027/28 and 300k in 2028/29)

The Committee noted that the administration of elections within the City was a statutory function and queried its inclusion in one-off pressures given that local elections were held in three out of every four years. The Director of Finance and Resources responded that this was an accounting choice that had been made to allow the use of one-off funding sources towards the cost and should it be moved into the base budget then a corresponding saving would also need to be identified.

OP25-9L Commercial Property Lawyer Post (63k)

The Assistant Director of Finance advised the Committee that this had been included as a one-off cost as it was a fixed term 1 year post to reflect the current demand for additional legal advice in commercial property as a result of ongoing disposal and asset rationalisation works.

The Committee then reviewed an initial draft set of wording for the recommendations identified in the meetings held on 18 December 2024, 2 January 2025 and 9 January 2025.

Comments were made in relation to the proposals for charging for an additional green bin and whether the income target was robust considering that there may be difficulty in identifying which bins were the initial free of charge bin and which were additional ones that should not be emptied if the additional fee hadn’t been paid. Members agreed that they would like to receive an update on the success of the income generation from this new approach.

The Committee acknowledged that AI could have a large impact on health and that whilst the Policy, Performance and Scrutiny Management Committee was the most suitable scrutiny committee to consider the item it may be prudent for members of the Health, Housing and Adults Scrutiny Committee to also be involved in the discussions. The Committee further expressed that it felt it important that the detailed plans for use be properly scrutinised before introduction as it was an area that presented reasonable risk to the council.

A further recommendation was proposed that in future years savings that encapsulated multiple proposals in distinct service areas were separated out into multiple budget lines to ensure the transparency of the process and facilitate the scrutiny process. The Committee added that if there were a possibility to update budget lines as more information became available this would also be beneficial to the process and allow them to focus efforts on areas that required further development.

Returning to the previous discussions about the International Festival and elections it was proposed that a recommendation was included in the Committee’s report to suggest that the Cabinet and finance officers review whether longstanding items included in the one-off pressures this year should be moved into the base budget in future years.

The Committee also proposed a recommendation to review the lessons learnt from income targets that had not been reached, in particular the Heritage & Design Income and noted the prudence and positivity in relation to the revision of the Planning and Land Charges income.

RESOLVED –

1.      That recommendations in relation to specific items in the 2025/26 Draft Budget be included in the Committee’s report on the draft budget proposals which will be presented to Cabinet and Council in February 2025.

2.      That further editing of the Committee’s report to Cabinet on its work to scrutinise the draft 2025/26 budget proposals be delegated to the Committee’s Planning Group.

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