Agenda item

Joint report of the Chief Finance officer and Cabinet Member for Finance and Community Development

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Community Development introduced the joint report and made the following points :

• The predicted overspend of £801,700 in the budget monitoring report to the end of August 2010 had been converted to an underspend of £174,086 in 2010/11 which was an outstanding achievement by officers across the council.
• £303,200 required Member approval at Council to carry forward requests.
• The proposed solution for the Bath Road toilets was an innovative approach involving local people in the service and satisfying their needs at a reduced cost to the council.
• Indications were that there would be a favourable verdict to the Icelandic Bank situation but this had not been assumed.
• The LAA performance reward grant was enabling a further round of Community Pride awards to the value of £30,000.
• An innovative use of the New Homes Bonus was being proposed to fund small environmental works and a fund to support events in the town. Both of these initiatives would help to attract visitors and trade to the town during the difficult economic climate.
• He supported the recommendations of the Section 151 Officer and considered it was prudent to increase the bad debt provision in view of the changes to the benefit regime.
• Additional proposals for bringing forward the roof repairs at the Everyman Theatre and funding the much-needed toilet refurbishment at the Town Hall were included.
• There had been a drop in income from offstreet parking and garden waste. Despite the result in the take-up for the new garden waste scheme he still considered that the previous scheme had been unsustainable and it would not have been possible to continue subsidising it.   A publicity campaign would now be put in place.
  
  

The Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development concluded that careful monitoring of the budget situation throughout the year had provided early warnings of problem areas which could then be addressed.  This would continue to be a rolling programme in the current budget climate. 

The Cabinet Member Built Environment highlighted the impact that reductions in income from planning fees and car parking had on the budget. There was a public perception that all council services were funded from council tax but in fact the budget was heavily dependent on fees and charges and therefore fluctuations in income led to budget instability. He was pleased to see the emphasis on the invest to save initiatives such as the setting up of a local authority waste company which would deliver long-term savings to the council. He also welcomed the use of the New Homes Bonus and hoped that it would continue over the next four years at least to provide some continuity to the funding.

The Leader acknowledged the outstanding effort from officers in achieving this budget outturn position but also stressed that this had not been without some pain. He was pleased that having lost the funding from the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive Scheme, there were recommendations for the use of the New Homes Bonus which would continue to maintain Cheltenham’s position as a festival and events town and support the local economy in the process.

Resolved that the following recommendations to Council 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 2010/11 resulting in a budget underspend of £174,086 which has been transferred to General Balances pending decisions over its use in 2011/12. 
   
   
2. Recommend the following use of the underspend:

·        £48,000 to fund carry forward requests requiring Member approval at Appendix 7 which includes £15,000 to fund the arrangements for keeping the Bath Road toilets open (see paragraph 3.4)

·        note the Cabinet’s approval, under financial rules 4G, part 8.11, to use the net underspend on new green waste schemes to fund the full rollout of plastic bottles collection across the borough in 2011/12 (estimated cost £17,000) (see paragraph 3.5)

·        £124,300 to fund the one off costs of the establishment of a waste company with a partner as set out in the exempt report to Cabinet on 21^st June 2011.

·        transfer the balance of £1,786 to General Balances

3. Note the treasury management outturn at Appendix 9.
4. Approve the allocation of the LAA performance award grant as set out in section 5.
5. Approve the allocation of the New Homes Bonus as set out in section 6 including the use of £30,000 from the civic pride reserve.
6. Approve the transfer of £50k from the benefits equalisation reserve to the benefits bad debt provision as per paragraph 7.3.
7. Note the capital programme outturn position as detailed in Appendix 11 and approve the carry forward of unspent budgets into 2011/12 (section 8).
8. Note the position in respect of section 106 agreements and partnership funding agreements at Appendix 12 (section 10).
9. Note the outturn position in respect of collection rates for council tax and non domestic rates for 2010/11 in Appendix 13 (section 11).
10. Note the outturn position in respect of collection rates for sundry debts for 2010/11 in Appendix 14 (section 12).
11. Receive the financial outturn performance position for the Housing Revenue Account for 2010/11 in Appendices 15 to 17 (section 13).
12. Note the outturn prudential indicators Appendix 18 and recommend that Council approve the revised prudential indicators for 2010/11, marked with an asterisk (section 14).
13. Note the budget monitoring position to the end of May 2011 (section 15).
14. Approve the advance of property grant to support the refurbishment of the Everyman theatre roof and the funding schedule for the next 6 years as at section 9 and Appendix 19.
15. Approve the one-off contribution of £170k from the Property Repairs & Renewals reserve to the programme maintenance budget to fund maintenance works at the Art Gallery & Museum in 2011/12 (section 15).
16. Approve the one-off contribution of £30k from the Property Repairs & Renewals reserve to the programme maintenance budget to fund toilet refurbishment works at the Town Hall in 2011/12 (section 15).