Why I Opposed the Folkestone and Hythe District Council Budget for 2022/23

The F&HDC Capital Strategy on which we have already voted, and I voted against, clearly contains massive - some may say huge - provision for Princes Parade. I'm not voting for that, and never have.

And on the General Fund Budget. If we had done the right thing and cancelled Princes Parade, then there would be a hugely different budget in front of us due to the changes we would have had to have made to unwind our current position.

I'd still like us to do that, so the budget I would want to see is not that in front of us.

So tonight at both Cabinet and later at Full Council I'll be voting against both the Capital Strategy and General Fund budget, and urge all members opposed to the development of Princes Parade to do the same thing.

That left me in a difficult position.

If I was to propose an amendment to this budget, art Cabinet or Council, even if the amendment passed I'd then be voting against the budget containing it, which was going to be hard to justify out loud.

However, I do think there is a glaring hole, and a fundamental truth, in the General Fund budget that should be addressed.

I'm just going to tell you what that glaring hole is, and hope that it is addressed in a future budget.

That hole is our apology.

That hole is the making real the commitment that has been made a number of times to actually compensate local residents for the disastrous rubbish and recycling collection service of a large part of 2021.

Yes, Cllr Peall has said sorry. Feel free to say it again Stuart. But words are cheap.

Yes, it was, to my mind, mainly Veolia's fault.

But we hired them, we oversaw them on behalf of local residents, and we said we would be seeking compensation from them for local residents.

And on that, in this budget, or our Council Tax charge for next year: Not. A. Word.

We could have funded a rebate to residents to apologise for that failure, with the intention of claiming it back from Veolia as part of, what I still assume is the intention, our legal action against them for last years issues.

But we've chosen instead to say nothing about it. I did scope the idea with officers, and although there is a legal route to doing so, apparently it would be almost impossible to do so with our current billing software. Always blame the software.

However, I note that when the government requires that this Council makes a payment of £150 directly to every Council Tax payer, we find a way to do that. When I suggest a small discount on every bill, we can't. That's software for you, I guess.

And to the fundamental truth. It is explicitly mentioned in the report in front of you, if not exactly highlighted.

As it says in 8.2: "Additionally funding is proposed to be released from the Business Rates reserve, General reserve and New Homes Bonus reserve to mitigate fluctuations in Business Rates income and provide adequate funding to services for the year 2022/23."

One sentence. £2.3m taken from earmarked reserves and £200k taken from general reserves to support this years budget.

Now - I understand and support the need to use reserves in that way from time to time.

But if this was anything other than a Conservative led budget, you'd be slating the use of reserves in this way. So I just make the point: I see you. We see you.

We see the £2.5m used from reserves to support this budget, and the £2.5m that won't be available to support future years budgets. I just flag that up now for when the next lecture arrives on prudent budgeting.

However, a final point. Although that these budgets are not those that I would have put together, for the reasons I've stated, I'm hugely grateful to Charlotte, Cheryl, Lee and all the Finance team for their work, diligence and ability in doing so.

I'd also like to pay tribute to the revenues team who, in really hard years, have through their diligence and support to local residents meant that our Council Tax collection rates remain very much on target, which is the bedrock of income to this authority.

This authority is blessed with some excellent officers, and I don't say so often enough. Although I can't support the budgets, I can wholly admire and applaud the professionalism of the team that put them together, and made them happen.