Agenda item

To consider and decide on the recommendations as set out in the associated report.

RESOLVED –

1.    That at Quarter 3 net expenditure on services year to date was £10,361,000, £741,000 less than budget be noted.

2.    That by year end the Council anticipated net expenditure of £15,278,000 on services, a forecast of £144,000 under budget, an improvement of £656,000 on Quarter 2 be noted.

3. That by year end the Council anticipated receiving an increase in funding of £1,150,000 due to additional investment interest. An improvement of £400,000 since Quarter 2.  Overall, this means an underspend compared to budget of £1,294,000, and improvement of £1,056,000 since Quarter 2.  This will fund the budget deficit of £944,000 that was to be met from reserves, with the additional £350,000 being available to be transferred to reserves, be noted.

4. That a new charge for bay suspensions be implemented from 1 April 2023 be approved.

REASON FOR DECISION: To show the actual expenditure on services compared to the revised budget for the period ending 31 December 2022, and the forecast outturn position, highlighting significant variances from the revised annual budget

Councillor Christopher Hall, Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance introduced Jane Fineman, Head of Finance, Procurement and Parking who presented the report set out in the agenda.

Discussion and questions from Members included the following:

-       All usable reserves had been allocated and currently there was an over allocation of £1m. 

-       All expenditure, whether revenue or capital should be funded from reserves, but there was also the ability to fund from a minimum revenue requirement i.e. internal borrowing. 

-       Internal borrowing had to be repaid over a period of years, over the life of the asset.  This impacted on the revenue budget going forward.

-       £5.9m of internal borrowing had been forecast, if this was included, all reserves had been spent.

-       Whilst the revenue budget was welcomed news, this was a double edged sword as budget savings due to staff vacancies was not sustainable. 

-       Staff vacancies needed to be filled so that services did not suffer.

-       Parking revenue was encouraging and did not appear to be having an effect on visitor numbers to Tunbridge Wells.

-       There was significant expenditure still to come, so although this was positive, there were still challenges ahead.

-       Appendix H highlighted a number of uplifts and officers should be commended for providing services despite the current resourcing problems.

-       It was made clear that TWBC only received 10p out of every £1 of Council Tax collected.  Similarly, it only received 4.7p out of every £1 collected for Business Rates. 

-       Staffing issues were a much wider problem affecting the whole of Local Government.

-       Unemployment levels in Tunbridge Wells had gone down, making the problem in TWBC worse. 

RESOLVED –

1.    That at Quarter 3 net expenditure on services year to date was £10,361,000, £741,000 less than budget be noted.

2.    That by year end the Council anticipated net expenditure of £15,278,000 on services, a forecast of £144,000 under budget, an improvement of £656,000 on Quarter 2 be noted.

3. That by year end the Council anticipated receiving an increase in funding of £1,150,000 due to additional investment interest. An improvement of £400,000 since Quarter 2.  Overall, this means an underspend compared to budget of £1,294,000, and improvement of £1,056,000 since Quarter 2.  This will fund the budget deficit of £944,000 that was to be met from reserves, with the additional £350,000 being available to be transferred to reserves, be noted.

4. That a new charge for bay suspensions be implemented from 1 April 2023 be approved.

REASON FOR DECISION: To show the actual expenditure on services compared to the revised budget for the period ending 31 December 2022, and the forecast outturn position, highlighting significant variances from the revised annual budget