Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:

(1)       That Cabinet note this report.

(2)       That Cabinet approves the changes to the 2021/22 General Fund budget, as identified in table 3 and paragraph 8.2, a £560k increase in net expenditure.

(3)       That Cabinet notes the changes to the 2022/23 General Fund budget, as identified in table 3 and paragraph 8.2, a total £226k increase in net expenditure. These will be incorporated in the draft revenue budget for 2022/23.

(4)       That Cabinet delegates to the Service Director: Resources (in consultation with the Executive Member for Finance and IT) authority to enter in to a Business Rate Pooling arrangement (if available) if it is estimated that it will be in the financial interests of the Council.

REASON FOR DECISION: That Members are able to monitor, make adjustments within the overall budgetary framework and request appropriate action of Services who do not meet the budget targets set as part of the Corporate Business Planning process.

Audio Recording – 36 minutes.

The Executive Member for Finance and IT, Councillor Ian Albert, presented the report entitled First Quarter Revenue Budget Monitoring 2021/22 and referral 6a from the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.

His presentation included:

·                The report summarised the variances in this quarter namely the continuing impact of COVID-19 and the impact of the waste contract;

·                Some of the COVID-19 variances are for the first quarter only e.g relating to parking;

·                A new budget estimate was presented in table 6;

·                The estimate was prudent and provided there were no further periods of restrictions a more positive forecast could be provided for the second quarter;

·                There had been positive pickup on parking in the District, which demonstrated that while this budget was more prudent than necessary at this stage a cautious approach was correct;

·                An update on the position of the Stevenage Leisure contract would be presented in quarter two after the impact of the summer period could be assessed;

·                It had been a Council priority to ensure adults and children in the District could continue to access leisure centres and services e.g aqua-education and it was encouraging to see that swimming lesson memberships had reached pre-covid levels;

·                The report referred to the potential for a Business Rates Pool and the Hertfordshire authorities were obtaining advice on the risk and benefits of such a pool;

·                The deadline for applications was 8 October hence a delegated decision was requested.

On the vote it was:

RESOLVED:

(1)       That Cabinet note this report.

(2)       That Cabinet approves the changes to the 2021/22 General Fund budget, as identified in table 3 and paragraph 8.2, a £560k increase in net expenditure.

(3)       That Cabinet notes the changes to the 2022/23 General Fund budget, as identified in table 3 and paragraph 8.2, a total £226k increase in net expenditure. These will be incorporated in the draft revenue budget for 2022/23.

(4)       That Cabinet delegates to the Service Director: Resources (in consultation with the Executive Member for Finance and IT) authority to enter in to a Business Rate Pooling arrangement (if available) if it is estimated that it will be in the financial interests of the Council.

REASON FOR DECISION: That Members are able to monitor, make adjustments within the overall budgetary framework and request appropriate action of Services who do not meet the budget targets set as part of the Corporate Business Planning process.