Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

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 Council;

1.      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:

     2.1  £327,500 of carry forward requests (at Appendix 5) be approved.

     2.2  The use of the budget saving of £489,998 (as detailed in Section 3) be approved.

3.      The annual treasury management report (at Appendix 7) be noted and the actual 2013/14 prudential and treasury indicators be approved.

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

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

6.      The position in respect of Section 106 agreements and partnership funding agreements at Appendix 10 (section 10) be noted.

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

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

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

10. The power to act as accountable officer for the transformational challenge funding (as outlined in section 14) be delegated to the Section 151 Officer.

11. The budget monitoring position to the end of May 2014 (section 15) be noted.