Meeting documents

To sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2015

The Minutes of the Resources Overview Committee meeting held 20 January 2015 copies of which had been previously circulated, were approved and signed by Councillor N Rose, as a correct record.

There were no declarations of interest.

Consideration was given to the Council’s Annual Performance Report 2014-15.  The report set out details of annual performance against pre-agreed targets for publication on the website.  The report was a shorter, more succinct, online report which linked to other information such as the Joint Business Plan, financial information and the end of year performance tables.

Members welcomed and thanked officers for the revised report format.

RESOLVED:

That the content of the report be noted.

Consideration was given to the report which outlined the review of the reserves held by the Council.

The Council had a General Reserve and a number of earmarked reserves.  The review of the level of the General Reserve, indicated it could be reduced to £2,500K taking into account the earmarked reserves that exist to cover financial risks and the forecast revenue funding gap over the next four years.

It was reported that the Council currently had 19 earmarked reserves, for purposes of managing financial risks and to provide funding for priority programmes of the Council.  The report proposed realigning the earmarked reserves and amended the levels of some of the reserves in the light of current needs and priorities.

The Director of Resources drew members’ attention specifically to issues that required a need to create new reserves and areas of proposed movement in existing reserves.  Members considered the detail of the proposed changes and the implications. It was explained that the reserves were continually monitored and Cabinet were able to review and consider a revised allocation if appropriate.  The Director of Resources clarified that the minimum level of reserves was a professional judgement based on CIPFA guidance but in general was a basic calculation based on operational expendiutre and taking into account financial risks.

RECOMMENDATION TO CABINET:

i)             To reduce the level of the General Reserve to £2,500K, and reallocate funding into earmarked reserves for a) Affordable Housing Reserve; b) Leisure Strategy Implementation, and c) Pension Fund Reserve; and

ii)            To realign the revised total for earmarked reserves as set out

Members were advised that at the meeting of the Audit & Standards Committee held on 19 March 2015, changes to the financial procedure rules in respect of write offs were agreed.  The Committee also requested that a quarterly report on volumes and amounts of write offs be reported to the Resources Overview Committee; and this first report related to quarter one 2015/16.

It was reported that during the first quarter there had been a total of 91 amounts written off totalling £25283.19 and this was broken down into the following areas:-

·         Sundry debt - 33 amounts - £13,101.83

·         Council Tax - 54 amounts - £1,837.22

·         Business Rates - 4 amounts - £10,344.14

A further report was to be presented to the Committee following the end of quarter two and for business rates this would include the names of the businesses in question.  Members commented on the low level of write offs.

RESOLVED:

That the write offs for the first quarter be noted.

Members considered the Chiltern District Council Capital, Repairs & Renewals Outturn Report 2014/15 and the Repairs & Renewals Budget for 2015/16; and were asked to note the outturn position, the carry forward of unspent capital and repairs and renewals budgets and note the proposed new repairs and renewals schemes for 2015/16.

RECOMMENDATION TO CABINET:

i)             To note the 2014/15 capital and repairs & renewals outturn position;

ii)            To agree which capital and repairs and renewals budgets should be carried forward to 2015/16; and

iii)           To agree new repairs and renewals schemes for 2015/16