Issue - meetings

To provide an overview of the Council’s financial position against the budget as at the end of September 2016 and to set out a number of budget adjustments required in 2016/17.

Decision: That:

(a)          the financial position as at the end of September 2016 was noted;

(b)          that in respect of the 2016/17 budget it was approved that:

·                    planning expenditure budgets be increased to facilitate additional capacity to meet the current demand for the service with the associated income budget increased by £0.102m as set out in the report;

·                    the General Fund Capital Programme be increased by £0.120m to accommodate the increased cost of the air handling units at Clacton Leisure Centre funded by the adjustments set out in the report and;

(c)          the Council’s Treasury Management Practices be amended to allow the aggregate amount that can be invested with any one Local Authority to be increased from £4.000million to £6.000million.

There was submitted a report by the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Revenues & Benefits (Report A.4), which provided Cabinet with an overview of the Council’s financial position against the budget as at the end of September 2016 and which also set out a number of budget adjustments required in 2016/17.

Cabinet was informed that the position to the end of September 2016 showed that overall the General Fund Revenue position was behind the profiled budget by £5.807 million.After allowing for significant one-off budgets such as the Fit for Purpose Budget where commitments or decisions were still to be made, the position was revised to £1.701 million behind the profiled budget.  A considerable element of that variance was due to the timing of expenditure and income although some emerging issues had been identified which were explained within the report and which required budget adjustments to be made and specific recommendations to Cabinet.

It was reported that in respect of other areas of the budget such as the Housing Revenue Account, Capital Programme, debt recovery, treasury activity and LCTSS / council tax and business rates there were no significant issues that had been identified to date.

Cabinet was aware that the budget monitoring process continued to form a fundamental element of supporting the forecast for future years through the identification of savings that could be ‘banked’ as the year progressed rather than just as part of the annual budget setting cycle. This enabled the medium term forecast to be updated on an on-going basis with the savings identified being available to support the future year’s budget. No transfers to the Building for the Future Reserve were proposed within this report but further consideration of such changes would form part of the detailed estimates process that would be reported to Cabinet in December 2016 following the completion of the comprehensive processes behind the formulation of the revised budget for 2016/17.

Members were informed that a half-year treasury management review had been carried out which had led to Officers making a recommendation to Cabinet for a revision to the Council’s Treasury Management Practices to provide additional flexibility around investments with other Local Authorities.

Having considered the information provided, it was moved by Councillor Howard, seconded by Councillor Watling and:

RESOLVED that:

(a)       the financial position as at the end of September 2016 was noted;

(b)       that in respect of the 2016/17 budget it was approved that:

·                planning expenditure budgets be increased to facilitate additional capacity to meet the current demand for the service with the associated income budget increased by £0.102m as set out in the report;

·                the General Fund Capital Programme be increased by £0.120m to accommodate the increased cost of the air handling units at Clacton Leisure Centre funded by the adjustments set out in the report and;

(c)           the Council’s Treasury Management Practices be amended to allow the aggregate amount that can be invested with any one Local Authority to be increased from £4.000million to £6.000million.