Agenda item

Budget Outturn - 2018/19

To consider the Budget Outturn for 2018/19 report.

Decision:

            RESOLVED to:

 

a.    Approve the 2018/19 outturn position as set out in this report

 

b.    Approve the reserve transfers and reserve balances set out in the report, in paragraph 17 and 18 for the General Fund and paragraph 22 for the Housing Revenue Account

 

c.     Approve the Capital Programme slippage requests as detailed in paragraph 24

Minutes:

Councillor Fairhurst, Portfolio Holder for Investments, presented the report summarising the 2018/19 Outturn position. He highlighted the following:

 

·         General Fund: The net operating expenditure for the 2018/19 final outturn was £2,874,000. The final outturn for the overall net budget position was £5,009,000, with a net underspend of £322,000 against the revised budget of £5,330,000.

·         Housing Revenue Account (HRA): £55,000 net operating deficit, due to a reduction in rents income, an increase in service and facility charges and difficulty in recruiting staff for housing repairs. However, allowing for transfers in earmarked reserves left an overall in year surplus of £13,000.

·         Capital Programme: £10,581,000 underspend, however after allowing for slippage requests of £11,034,000 there was a net actual overspend of £183,000.

·         Slippage: Key items where slippage had occurred included the New Depot Site, Vehicle Replacement, Superfast Broadband and HRA developments.

 

Councillor Barker thanked officers for the outturn report. She asked two questions:

 

What is the income from Chesterford Research Park (CRP) to the District Council in the last two financial years and what is the projected income for the current financial year?

 

What was the balance of the Strategic Initiative Reserve as of 31 March 2019 and, in light of advice received following Full Council on 28 June, had the Administration frozen this reserve?

 

In response to questions from Councillor Barker, the Assistant Director – Resources said the net income generated by CRP in 2017/18 was £1.476 million and £1.914 million in 2018/19. The projected net income for 2019/20 was £1.7million, and for 2020/21 this would increase to £2 million due to Building 60 going online. She said a breakdown of projected net income would be provided at a later date.

 

The Director – Finance and Corporate Services said the Strategic Initiative Reserve stood at £2.16 million on 31 March 2019, although £500,000 had been granted in the interim to the Carver Barracks running track project and therefore the reserve stood at £1.66 million. Following the decision of Full Council on 28 June to refer the Stansted Airport planning application back to the Planning Committee, he had advised the Administration in his capacity as Section 151 Officer not to commit any further funds from the reserve until the financial implications of the decision had been quantified.

 

The Chair said the advice of the Section 151 Officer had been noted by the Administration.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Light, the Assistant Director – Resources provided a breakdown of the council’s income and expenditure streams. She said income was made up of government funding, new homes bonus, business rates retention, fees & charges, investment income and council tax. Expenditure related to direct service delivery, staffing costs, the capital programme, grants and the maintenance of property and the motor fleet. She said the majority of figures could be found in the Summary Analysis in appendix A but a breakdown of service income and expenditure could be provided in due course.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Foley, the Chair said the new Administration was comfortable with the Investment Strategy and, having taken a closer look at the figures since taking control of the Council, were encouraged by what they had seen. 

 

Councillor Fairhurst said the real issue was the lack of governance arrangements and structure surrounding the council’s investments. He said officers were working with the new Administration to establish an Investment protocol and an Investment Board. An update would be provided in due course.

 

            RESOLVED to:

 

a.            Approve the 2018/19 outturn position as set out in this report

 

b.            Approve the reserve transfers and reserve balances set out in the report, in paragraph 17 and 18 for the General Fund and paragraph 22 for the Housing Revenue Account

 

c.             Approve the Capital Programme slippage requests as detailed in paragraph 24

 

Supporting documents: