Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

The item was introduced by Councillor John Rawson, Cabinet Member Finance. The report highlighted the Council’s financial performance for the previous year which set out the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) revenue and capital outturn position for 2012/13. The information contained in the report had been used to prepare the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2012/13.

The Cabinet Member Finance explained that the Financial Outturn report had been put together in difficult circumstances with unprecedented levels of cuts in Government funding. He indicated that the council had managed its resources well and delivered services slightly within budget, leaving a budget saving of £201,000 in 2012/13. He was proposing that this was added to the General Reserve. In addition £186,000 had been set aside to provide a safety net against possible future fluctuation in business rates income, following the localisation of business rates.

Where budgets were committed or still needed to be spent on the items for which they were budgeted, the Section 151 officer had delegated power to carry them forward.  Other carry forward items required member approval were set out in the report and he highlighted two of these. 

He proposed that £10,000 should be carried forward from the Town Hall underspend mainly to fund initial costings and designs for the Town Hall redevelopment scheme.   This was a hugely important project which had the potential to increase the council’s income as well as giving Cheltenham a Town Hall fit for the 21st century. 

He was also proposing that £170,000 of the substantial Ubico underspend should be reinvested in Ubico, to fund new vehicles and technology, to assist in rationalisation, and to train staff.  This would result in a better and more efficient service for the people of Cheltenham.

The Council received £100,000 of funding from the High Street Innovation fund. This had paid for retail skills workshops for local businesses as well as enabling the continuation of the business rates discount scheme. However, take up of the scheme had been lower than expected. Therefore, there was a plan to reallocate some funds to other services. For example, £15,000 would be spent on funding consultation with the business community regarding the possibility of setting up a Business Improvement District and £24,000 was to be spent on new equipment for the pedestrianised area of the town centre to make it cleaner and more welcoming for businesses, tourists and shoppers.

The Cabinet Member Finance informed members that the investment that Cheltenham Borough Council had put in to Gloucestershire Airport had seen a disappointing return. Gloucestershire City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council had each provided a temporary lending facility of £350k which had been provided to support the extension of the runway. They had not seen a return on investment and the airport could not afford to repay the loan in the original timeline set. He also indicated that Cheltenham and Gloucester councils would not be receiving any dividend this year, though to be fair this was as a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

RESOLVED that the following recommendations be approved ;

1. Receive the financial outturn performance position for the General Fund, summarised at Appendix 2, and note that services have been delivered within the revised budget for 2012/13 resulting in a saving (after carry forward requests) of £201,801.

2. Recommend that Council approve the following :

2.1            Approve £216,400 of carry forward requests (requiring member approval) at Appendix 6.

2.2            Approve the transfer of the budget saving of £201,801 to general fund balances.

3. Note the updated MTFS and budget strategy at Appendix 4.
4. Note the treasury management outturn at Appendix 8 and approve the actual 2012/13 prudential and treasury indicators.
5. Approve the revision to the Treasury Management policy to reflect the revised borrowing facility to support the airport, subject to annual review (Appendix 9).
6. Approve the amendments to financial rule I9 in respect of write-off limits as set out in appendix 15 (section 7).
7. Approve the High Street Innovation Fund reallocation (section 8).
8. Note the capital programme outturn position as detailed in Appendix 11 and approve the carry forward of unspent budgets into 2013/14 (section 10).
9. Note the position in respect of section 106 agreements and partnership funding agreements at Appendix 12 (section 11).
10. Note the outturn position in respect of collection rates for council tax and non domestic rates for 2012/13 in Appendix 13 (section 12).
11. Note the outturn position in respect of collection rates for sundry debts for 2012/13 in Appendix 14 (section 13).
12. Receive the financial outturn performance position for the Housing Revenue Account for 2012/13 in Appendices 16 to 17 (section 14).
13. Note the budget monitoring position to the end of May 2013 (section 15).

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report and welcomed the £200 000 saving which had been delivered in 2012/13 which he proposed be used to strengthen the General Reserve.

The Cabinet Member referred to the carry forward requests, which totalled £186 500, some of which included changing the purpose of the spending slightly to which was originally budgeted for. He reported that Ubico had made a significant saving and it was proposed that £170,000 of this saving was used to reinvest in new vehicles, technology and training. He also reported that not all the £100 000 allocated to the Innovation Fund which was for the purposes of promoting retail and businesses had been spent. It was suggested that the scheme would continue and be promoted more but it was proposed that some of the funding be used for other purposes such as business improvement districts which the Cheltenham Business Partnership was keen to explore.

It was proposed that £24 000 would be used to purchase new equipment suitable for cleaning the slabs and bonded gravel in and around the Promenade.

The Cabinet Member Finance explained that the Council had raised a loan for the purposes of the runway safety project for Gloucestershire Airport based on the business plan. The Airport had showed disappointing growth and had asked for the repayment of the loan to be extended. The Treasury Management Panel had discussed this and agreed that this should be approved but reviewed every year. He therefore proposed an amendment to recommendation 5 of the report to read “Approve the revision to the Treasury Management Policy to reflect the revised borrowing facility to support the airport, subject to annual review.” This amendment was supported by Members.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) had been revised following the recent Government funding announcement. The Council would lose £700 000 in 2014/15 and a further £500 000 or more in 2015/16 therefore there was an increase in the medium term funding gap. The Council would therefore need to work harder to deliver savings without impacting frontline services.

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety paid tribute to the hard work of officers and highlighted that there had been no significant increase in housing arrears despite the rent increase.

The Cabinet Member Sustainability welcomed the reinvestment of Ubico savings in services and stated that this would be reflected in service delivery over the next year or two.

The Leader clarified that the report would be submitted to Council for approval on Monday 22 July.

RESOLVED that the following recommendations be approved ;

1.      Receive the financial outturn performance position for the General Fund, summarised at Appendix 2, and note that services have been delivered within the revised budget for 2012/13 resulting in a saving (after carry forward requests) of £201,801.

2.      Recommend that Council approve the following :

2.1     Approve £216,400 of carry forward requests (requiring member approval) at Appendix 6.

2.2     Approve the transfer of the budget saving of £201,801 to general fund balances.

3.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11