Issue - meetings

Financial outturn 2013/14 and quarterly budget monitoring report to end May 2014

Meeting: 21/07/2014 - Council (Item 11)

11 Financial outturn 2013/14 and quarterly budget monitoring report to end May 2014 pdf icon PDF 131 KB

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the report as circulated with the agenda.  A copy of his introduction is attached (Appendix 2) and key points included;

 

·        There was a £490k under spend which equated to less than 1% of the Council’s gross annual budget.  This was the result of the continued efforts of council staff to deliver services as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

·        It was being proposed that £100k should be used to speed up delivery of the five year programme of investment in ICT infrastructure.  

·        £97k would be held back to strengthen reserves.

·        £100k of new money would be put towards the restoration of the war memorial in the Promenade.  Work on the first phase would start on the 21 July as paving and lighting are renewed.

·        A number of budget allocations were being carried forward where projects overlapped or where there had been unavoidable delays. 

·        There had been a significant reduction in short term borrowing which had cut costs.

·        Tabled, were £30million worth of capital programme projects that members and officers had proposed, of which £18m required funding.

·        On a like for like basis the council had lost roughly £4.2million of Government funding since 2009/10, with the expectation of a further 15.3% cut next year (approx £835k).

·        Part of the budget saving will be used to fund a major review of Regulatory and Environmental services with the aim of cutting costs.

·        A review to determine the costs of the One Legal shared service was planned of whether these could be reduced and/or revenue increased.

·        Looking at the possibility of setting up a solar farm on council land.

·        Exploring the option of setting up a joint company with a number of other councils in order to reduce  overheads.

 

The Cabinet Member Finance gave the following responses to questions from members;

 

  • The £10k for Christmas lights that the member had referred to was simply a carry forward sum which would be used to replace/improve existing lights rather than the total display budget. 
  • There were robust measures in place to address the revenue overspend at the Art Gallery and Museum.  The Cabinet Member Finance was happy to provide a written response outlining the specific measures.  The Cabinet Member Healthy Lifestyles confirmed that fundraising would bridge the £31k funding shortfall in relation to capital funding but she was not in a position to divulge any more information than this at this stage.
  • Restoration of the St. Peter’s Church memorial had been delayed due to issues surrounding ownership.  He was keen for these issues to be resolved and felt that this could be one of the memorial restorations in which the council provided help. 

 

A member  felt that the fact that the Cabinet Member Finance was able to report such figures deserved congratulations.  He felt that the people of Cheltenham would feel reassured about the council’s financial position, given the current economic climate and would welcome the mix of investment and strengthened reserves. 

 

Upon a vote it was unanimously

 

RESOLVED that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11


Meeting: 15/07/2014 - Cabinet (Item 7)

7 Financial outturn 2013/14 and quarterly budget monitoring report to end May 2014 pdf icon PDF 131 KB

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED THAT Council be recommended to approve the following recommendations :

 

1.      That Council 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 2013/14 resulting in a saving (after carry forward requests) of £489,998. 

2.      That furthermore Council:

     2.1  Approve £327,500 of carry forward requests (requiring member approval) at Appendix 5.

     2.2  Approve the use of the budget saving of £489,998 as detailed in Section 3.

3.      Note the annual treasury management report at Appendix 7 and approve the actual 2013/14 prudential and treasury indicators.

4.      Approve the revision to the Treasury Management policy to reflect the revised borrowing facility to support the newly created Leisure and Cultural Trust (Appendix 7).

5.      Note the capital programme outturn position as detailed in Appendix 8 and approve the carry forward of unspent budgets into 2014/15 (section 9).

6.      Note the position in respect of Section 106 agreements and partnership funding agreements at Appendix 10 (section 10).

7.      Note the outturn position in respect of collection rates for council tax and non-domestic rates for 2013/14 in Appendix 11 (section 11).

8.      Note the outturn position in respect of collection rates for sundry debts for 2013/14 in Appendix 12 (section 12).

9.      Receive the financial outturn performance position for the Housing Revenue Account for 2013/14 in Appendices 13 to 14 (section 13).

10.  Delegate to the Section 151 Officer the power to act as accountable officer for the transformational challenge funding, as outlined in section 14.

11.  Note the budget monitoring position to the end of May 2014 (section 15).

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the report as circulated with the agenda and highlighted the following :

 

·        There was a £490k underspend which equated to less than 1% of the council’s gross annual budget.  This was due to a robust system of financial control.

·        The HRA was in a very satisfactory position with reserves which would be carried forward higher than expected

·        It was being proposed that £100k of the underspend should be used to resource ICT in order to ensure that there was an efficient delivery of the five year programme of investment. 

·        £100k of the underspend would be put towards the restoration of the war memorial in the Promenade which would be in addition to the £50 k allocated in the planned maintenance budget. The total cost of restoration was up to £450 k. An appeal would be launched and it was hoped that other funding would be sourced via the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Memorials Trust and sponsorship by local organisations and individuals. Work on the first phase would start on the 21 July which concerned the renewal of paving and lighting.

·        £97k would be held back to strengthen reserves.

·        It was proposed to earmark £22 k to carry out a feasibility study into the potential for creating a solar PV farm on council owned land. The purpose would be to assess the preferred site’s financial feasibility in terms of return on investment and also offer recommendations for progressing the project to the subsequent stages of development. The Council would then be in a stronger position to negotiate a joint venture with potential commercial partners.

·        A number of budget allocations amounting to £327 k were being carried forward where projects overlapped into the next financial year or where there had been unavoidable delays.

·        The move to local business rates retention was expecting to deliver more income than expected and officers were thanked for their vision on this.

 

On behalf of the Cabinet the Cabinet Member Finance thanked the Director Resources and the Head of Finance and officers across the organisation for their innovation in delivering savings.

 

The Cabinet Member Housing explained that the variation in actual spend in the HRA arose primarily from project delays. He also explained that the bad debt provision set up for helping tenants through welfare reform was not taken up. This was testament to the good work of One Stop and CBH.

 

RESOLVED THAT Council be recommended to approve the following recommendations :

 

1.      That Council 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 2013/14 resulting in a saving (after carry forward requests) of £489,998. 

2.      That furthermore Council:

2.1            Approve £327,500 of carry forward requests (requiring member approval) at Appendix 5.

2.2            Approve the use of the budget saving of £489,998 as detailed in Section 3.

  1. Note the annual treasury management report at Appendix 7 and approve the actual 2013/14 prudential  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7