Agenda item

REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, POLICY AND GOVERNANCE

To consider the Revenue Budget Outturn report for 2016/17.

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the contents of the report be noted;

(2)  That a decrease of £1.294million in the 2016/17 General Fund expenditure, as identified in Table 2 and Paragraph 8.1 of the report, to a total of £15.974million, be approved;

(3)  That the requested changes to the 2017/18 General Fund budget, as identified in Table 2 and Paragraph 8.2 of the report, of a £227,000  increase in net expenditure and the total carry forward into 2017/18 of budgets from 2016/17 of £642,000, be approved; and

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:   That the net transfer to earmarked reserves of £4,000, as identified in Table 6 and Paragraph 8.14 of the report, be approved.

REASON FOR DECISION: To monitor and request appropriate action of Services who do not meet the budget targets set as part of the Corporate Business Planning process; and to ensure that changes to the Council’s balances are monitored and approved.

The Cabinet Chairman presented the report of the Strategic Director of Finance, Policy and Governance in respect of the Revenue Budget Outturn 2016/17.  The following appendices were submitted with the report:

Appendix A – General Fund Summary 2016/17; and

Appendix B – Carry Forward Budgets requested for 2017/18.

The Cabinet Chairman advised that the net expenditure on the General Fund in 2016/17 was £15.974million.  This was a net decrease of £1.294million on the working budget of £17.268million.  She referred to Table 2 of the report, which set out the significant variances, and she highlighted a number of these.

The Cabinet Chairman stated that the estimated impact on the 2017/18 budget was a £228,000 increase in budget, which included the request to carry forward £255,000 of budgets from 2016/17 to 2017/18 for projects that were not completed by the end of the financial year.  The Cabinet was requested to approve the total budgets to be carried forward of £642,100.

The Cabinet Chairman explained that, at the end of 2016/17, the Council had retained a total of £3.227million of Business Rates income, £819,000 more than had been projected to this point.  This was primarily due to the Council’s Business Rates Collection Fund benefiting from a change in the discretionary reliefs issued.  In 2015/16, NHDC issued retail reliefs worth £760,000.  Any compensation received from Central Government for this relief would be posted to the General Fund and transferred to an earmarked reserve to fund the payment of the deficit on the Collection Fund.  The equivalent retail relief issued in 2016/17, however, reduced to £16,000 due to a change in the national scheme. This reduction in relief issued therefore increased the level of Business Rates income in the Collection Fund and contributed to increasing the amount that the Council retained.

The Cabinet Chairman drew attention to Table 5 of the report, which summarised the General Fund impact at the end of March 2017, and which showed a difference of £2.272million.

The Head of Finance, Performance and Asset Management commented that the Cabinet was also being asked to recommend to Council that the net contribution to reserves of £4,000 be approved, which left a total balance in earmarked reserves at 31 March 2017 of £4.609million.

In respect of the increase in Planning Control Fees and Charges, the Executive Member for Planning and Enterprise commented that this was due to increased confidence amongst developers as a result of positive progress on the North Hertfordshire Local Plan.  This was set to continue as applications were submitted on some of the larger allocated sites in the Plan.  The Cabinet Chairman advised that, if the ability to meet statutory deadlines in respect of the determination of applications for such sites was compromised, she would be supportive of (if necessary) additional meetings of the Planning Control Committee being arranged.

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the contents of the report be noted;

(2)  That a decrease of £1.294million in the 2016/17 General Fund expenditure, as identified in Table 2 and Paragraph 8.1 of the report, to a total of £15.974million, be approved;

(3)  That the requested changes to the 2017/18 General Fund budget, as identified in Table 2 and Paragraph 8.2 of the report, of a £227,000  increase in net expenditure and the total carry forward into 2017/18 of budgets from 2016/17 of £642,000, be approved; and

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:   That the net transfer to earmarked reserves of £4,000, as identified in Table 6 and Paragraph 8.14 of the report, be approved.

REASON FOR DECISION: To monitor and request appropriate action of Services who do not meet the budget targets set as part of the Corporate Business Planning process; and to ensure that changes to the Council’s balances are monitored and approved.