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83 General Fund: Mid Year Financial Review - October 2015 PDF 126 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Matter for
Decision
The report presented and recommended the budget
strategy for the 2016/17 budget cycle and specific implications which were set
out in the Mid-Year Financial Review document October 2015.
The report also recommended the approval of new capital
items and changes to phasing and funding proposals of the Council’s Capital
plan.
Decisions
of Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources
i.
Agreed the budget strategy process and timetable for the
2016/17 budget cycle as outlined in Section 1 and Appendix A of the MFR
document.
ii.
Agreed incorporation of the budget savings and pressures
identified in Section 4 of the MFR document.
This provided an indication of the net savings requirements, by year for
the next 5 years and revised General Fund revenue, funding and reserves
projections which was shown in Section 5 of the MFR document.
iii.
Noted the changes to the Capital Plan as set out in Section 6
of the MFR document and agree the new proposals.
iv.
Agreed changes to General Fund Reserve levels with the
Prudent Minimum Balance being set at £5.13m and the target level at £6.16m as
detailed in Section 7 of the MFR document.
Reason for the Decision
As set out in the Officer’s report.
Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected
Not applicable.
Scrutiny
Considerations
The Committee received a report from the Head of Finance and s151
Officer.
The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:
i.
Commented on p248-9 of the Officers report, and
asked about the assumptions on staff turnover and whether these should be
flexed upwards.
ii.
Queried the 2% assumption for inflation on p249 which
had been retained, linked to the recurring £100,000 on p251.
iii.
Queried whether the table in the appendix on p271
could be expanded to include what the status of the item was.
In response to Members’ questions the Head of Finance and the s151
Officer said the following:
i.
Referred to the employee turnover on p248, the
assumption had been in existence for a while, it was a standard assumption
which was used over the whole of the Council unless there were exceptional
circumstances. No one had suggested the
assumption was not valid.
ii.
Referring to the retained inflation rate of 2% on
p249, this was the target that the Government and Bank of England were working
to. Current inflation levels were well
below this target so there is an opportunity for the Council to make a saving
was taken. The saving reduced the base
of the Council’s expenditure and gave a recurring saving of £100,000 which
would be spread over supplies and services.
iii.
Confirmed that the Projects under Development (PUD)
list would in future include the status of items. Where s106 items were mentioned these had
been through Area or Scrutiny Committee meetings as appropriate.
The Committee resolved by 6 votes to 0 to endorse the recommendation.
The Executive Councillor approved the recommendation.
Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted):
Not applicable.