Issue - meetings

The Committee received a presentation from Mark Green, Director of Finance and Business Improvement, outlining the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2019/20 – 2023/24. Mr Green explained that the strategy had been adapted to align with the new draft strategic plan and its four strategic priority areas. The Committee was presented with three possible future scenarios in terms of the Council’s finances – positive, adverse and negative. Mr Green conveyed that the Council’s spending would need to reflect the financial resources available to it, and the resources available depended on outside factors. However Maidstone Borough Council was less exposed to this risk than other authorities due to being more reliant on Council Tax collection and generating its own income rather than grants from central government. It was noted that the financial position appeared to be relatively secure up to 2020/21, but following this the future was much more unclear.

The Committee requested that as the strategy continued to be developed, further consideration be given to modelling the impact on the Council’s finances to limiting Council Tax rises to the rate of inflation.

RESOLVED:

That Council is recommended to adopt the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2019/20-2023/24 as set out in Appendix A.

Voting: Unanimous