Issue - meetings

Overview of Revenue Budget 2013/14

 

 

Meeting: 10/12/2013 - Executive (Item 117)

117 Overview of General Fund Revenue Budget 2013/14 pdf icon PDF 87 KB

To consider the report of the Assistant Director Finance.

 

Scrutiny Committee – Resources considered the report at its meeting on 4 December 2013 and its comments will be reported.

Additional documents:

Decision:

Agreed

 

 

That the following be recommended to Council

 

(1)        General Fund forecast financial position for the 2013/14   financial year;

 

(2)        HRA forecast financial position for the 2013/14 financial year;

 

(3)        additional supplementary budgets listed in Appendix C of the report;

 

(4)        outstanding Sundry Debt position as at September 2013; and

 

(5)        creditors’ payments performance.

 

Reason for Decision:

 

 

As set out in the report.

 

Minutes:

The report of the Assistant Director Finance was submitted, advising Members of the overall projected financial position of the General Fund Revenue Budget and Housing Revenue Account after six months, for the 2013/14 financial year.

 

The Assistant Director Finance advised that the General Fund revenue position showed an underspend of £57,161 and the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) an overspend of £1,525,275. The HRA variation was due to approved expenditure to finance Phase II of the Council Own Build programme and purchase of flats at Dean Clarke House and an overspend on reactive repairs.

 

The Assistant Director Finance gave the following responses to Members’ questions:-

 

·         in the first year the cost of utilities at RAMM were anticipated to exceed the budget, which would be addressed next year by savings, to be made in the Museums Service

·         with effect from April 2014 the Local Government Pension Scheme would be an average salary scheme

·         HRA - the rental income from dwellings had been identified as a risk as the rent increases required from rent conversion could cause a slight increase in bad debts

·         the car parks fee income as at November was marginally above budget.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Customer Access commented that the bathroom replacement programme was awarded to contractors on a block basis.

 

The Chief Executive & Growth Director clarified that planning appeals did not have an impact on planning income and the number of appeals that were allowed remained fairly constant.

 

Scrutiny Committee – Resources considered the report at its meeting on 4 December and the comments of the Members were noted.

 

RECOMMENDED that Council approves the:-

 

(1)        General Fund forecast financial position for the 2013/14 financial year;

 

(2)        HRA forecast financial position for the 2013/14 financial year;

 

(3)        additional supplementary budgets listed in Appendix C of the report;

 

(4)        outstanding Sundry Debt position as at September 2013; and

 

(5)        creditors’ payments performance.

 

Meeting: 04/12/2013 - Scrutiny Committee - Resources (Item 46)

46 Overview of Revenue Budget 2013/14 pdf icon PDF 87 KB

To consider the report of the Assistant Director Finance  - report circulated

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Assistant Director Finance was submitted, advising Members of the overall projected financial position of the General Fund Revenue Budget and Housing Revenue Account after six months, for the 2013/14 financial year.

 

The Assistant Director Finance advised that the Service Committee budgets showed a forecast overspend of £163,890 (1.3%) against a revised Service Committee Net Expenditure budget of £12,248,020. He outlined to Members, the individual budgets in respect of each of the Scrutiny Committees, including the areas of budgetary risk, the outstanding sundry debt, debt write-offs and creditor payments performance. A number of additional budgets had been approved or requested for approval and these were set out in an appendix to the report. The protocol now required a formal approval, and this included a request for a further sum to facilitate the Rugby World Cup bid. It was noted that this was part of the sum recently agreed by Executive for the Rugby World Cup staging.    

 

A Member referred to the comparison of outstanding sundry debt with last year’s figure and enquired why this had increased.  The Assistant Director Finance stated that the recovery of Housing Benefit overpayments had to follow a statutory recovery path, including a staged recovery from the claimant. A review of the way the City Council runs the debt recovery operation was about to be undertaken and would look at the overall performance across the Council. The Member also suggested a review of the housing benefit claim process as more employers were now operating a zero hour or low hours contract, meaning that a claim could vary from week to week. The Assistant Director Finance stated that he would contact the Benefits Team to seek information on the impact of changes in working patterns and the adjustment process for claimants.  He also responded to the likely level of debt write-offs for Business Rates in 2013/14, which on average in the past was approximately £400,000.  The Business Rates team were slightly under the target for collected recovery this year.

 

The Scrutiny Committee – Resources noted the report and requested that Council approve the:-

 

(1)   General Fund forecast financial position for the 2013/14 financial year;

 

(2)   Housing Revenue Account forecast financial position for the 2013/14 financial year;

 

(3)   additional supplementary budgets listed in Appendix C of the circulated report;

 

(4)   outstanding Sundry Debt position as at September 2013, and

 

(5)   creditors’ payments performance.

 

(Report circulated)