The Council's spending plans 2007/08
The budget strategy 2007/08 to 2009/10
The lead on the budget process is taken by the Budget and Efficiency Group, which is a sub group of Cabinet and comprises lead members and senior officers of the council. Through this group the medium-term financial strategy covering the three years 2007/08 to 2009/10 has been developed to ensure alignment between the strategic and budget planning processes.
Forecasts of our 3-year spending requirements began in March last year as part of our continuous review of medium-term spending requirements. These forecasts have been refined, as developments have unfolded during the year, particularly as the financial strategy was developed during the autumn, as details of the government's Revenue Support Grant settlement were announced in November and based on submissions received from directorates during December.
The medium-term financial strategy has addressed the major challenges facing the city in order to fulfil the council’s vision for the city, its 7 pledges and sub-pledges and the Cabinet’s priorities, and its contribution towards achieving the aims of the Community Plan and the Local Strategic Partnership. Accordingly, clear links have been developed between the key outcomes expected and the resources made available.
The key priorities that the Budget and Efficiency group has identified for the council for its financial strategy have been to develop a budget which: -
Key spending priorities
- Maintains priority services
- Delivers services which represent value for money
- Continues to seek increased efficiency from services
- Avoids cuts in any area of service
- Maintains the financial health of the council
- Maintains a policy of low council tax increases, with council tax rises to be no more than 3% per annum for Salford’s services
- Reduces the capitalisation of revenue expenditure
- Makes appropriate allowance for expected pay and price inflation and other expected commitments over the next three years
- Ensures that reserves are supported by a detailed risk assessment
- Takes into account the results of public consultation.
Early in 2006, the Group launched a review of spending across the whole of the council to ensure that efficiencies were being maximised and to enable more resources to be put into priority services.
The result of these actions is that the council has been able to set a revenue budget of £198.229m for 2007/08 which satisfies the key strategic and spending priorities, allows additional resources to be put into priority services, meets some significant spending pressures and also delivers a substantial increase in efficiencies. Details of how this budget was formulated is given in the following pages.
This page was last updated on 31 May 2007
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