Agenda item

Report attached.

Considered a report of the Responsible Financial Officer seeking the Charter Trustees’ views on the proposed budget and precept for the new Scarborough Town Council.  Members were reminded that North Yorkshire Council was required to set the budget and precept for the new Scarborough Town Council for its first year of operation.  At the meeting of the Charter Trustees on 25 October it had been established that they (except the member for Eastfield division) act as the consultative body in relation to the creation of the new town council including the calculation of the budget requirement.  The recommendation of the Charter Trustees would then be included in the report to North Yorkshire Council on 13 November for final decision.

Based on informal feedback already received from the Charter Trustees, the report proposed a budget of £384k, indicatively broken down as follows:

A precept of £384,000 would give a Council Tax Band D charge of £28.88 for 2025/26.

Appendix B of the report set out alternative budgets should the Charter Trustees be minded to either increase or decrease the total contingency of £150k.

Updating the report, the Responsible Financial Officer put forward one further option for the Charter Trustees to consider which had emerged following her discussions with the Executive.  This was the offer of a loan from North Yorkshire Council of up to £100k which could be used as an operational contingency if required by the new town council.  This was an alternative to including the contingency in the budget requirement and precept. 

The Charter Trustees then discussed the report and asked questions.  Key points raised were:

·       The difficulty the Charter Trustees had in predicting what the new town council would deliver for Scarborough.  This was for the new town council to determine.

·       The Charter Trustees’ task was to ensure that the new town council was not set up to fail and to give it a secure platform from which it could develop

·       The Council Tax Reduction Scheme would also apply to the precept for the new town council

Two alternative views emerged during the discussion:

1.     Accept the offer of a loan from North Yorkshire Council to serve as an operational contingency of up to £100k, retain the service development contingency of £50k and so keep the proposed budget to a minimum of £284k

2.     Continue with the original recommendation of a proposed budget of £384k to ensure the new town council did not have to seek financial support from North Yorkshire Council in the form of a loan at a rate of interest yet to be determined, but instead could raise sufficient funds through the precept to cover any additional unforeseen spend which may arise during its establishment and first year of operation.  Any unspent balance would then be carried forward to 2026-27 to provide funds to mitigate future risk and capacity for service investment

The second alternative was proposed, seconded and put to the vote, whereupon it was carried by three votes to one.

Resolved

That the Charter Trustees recommend a precept of £384,000 for Scarborough Town Council for 2025-26 as set out in paragraph 4.5 of the report.

The member for Eastfield division, Councillor Randerson did not participate in the vote.