Issue - meetings

            That the report be noted.          

Revenue Budget Monitoring 2012/13 (Month 9)

            The Head of Finance introduced a report to provide Members with the most up to date Revenue Budget Monitoring information (Month 9) for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) in 2012/13 which was being submitted to Cabinet on 19 March 2013. 

            The projected year end underspend of £0.856m on the Council Fund was an increase in the underspend reported at Month 8.  Appendix 1 showed a summary of movement from Month 8 and reported that the majority of changes were in Community Services.  Two requests for carry forward were being recommended to Cabinet for Legal & Democratic Services and ICT & Customer Services.  Appendix 7 provided details on the movements of unearmarked reserves to leave a projected level of Contingency Reserve at 31 March 2013 as £0.445m.  The Head of Finance explained that this amount was in addition to the Base Level of reserves of £5.564m and the amount of £0.770m approved by Cabinet on 19 February 2013 for the impact of the provision for Mutual Municipal Insurance scheme of arrangement.  An underspend of £0.471m on the HRA was also reported but there were delegated powers arrangements in place for it to be spent on investment in the housing stock. 

            Councillor P.G. Heesom referred to the two entries in appendix 7 for approvals made in 2011/12 and asked whether these had now been dispensed with.  In response the Head of Finance said that the £1.500m referred to in appendix 7 had been ringfenced at the end of the last financial year and had been the subject of a report to Cabinet in January 2013 which identified allocations to a number of Invest to Save projects.  Councillor Heesom highlighted the risk of planning decisions which were the subject of appeal which were reported as being costs for the appeal in relation to the Croes Atti site.  He said that he had been advised that the costs were £0.040m and not £0.020m as reported and were due to the Council’s failure to determine the application.  He also paid tribute to the work of the Head of Housing and the commitment that had been given following the result of the housing transfer ballot.

            Councillor A. Woolley queried whether any of the underspend on the Council Fund could be used to reinstate the swimming subsidy of £0.023m in 2013/14.  The Leader of the Council explained that an element of the budget underspend had already been included in the figures to achieve a balanced budget for 2013/14.  The Head of Finance advised that of the unearmarked reserves, £0.297m had been approved by Council on 1 March 2013 for funding of one-off costs in the 2013/14 budget proposals and said that it was important to reiterate the difference between one-off costs and recurring costs such as the swimming subsidy.  In response to a question from Councillor M. Bateman on whether the amount set aside for Single Status was adequate, the Chief Executive felt that the reserve was sufficient to pay  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85