Issue - meetings

To consider the Council’s financial performance in the year to date.

RESOLVED:

That the latest budget forecasts for the General Fund (paragraph 3.2 of Report item 4 considered by the Cabinet); Capital Programme (paragraph 4.1 of Report Item 4 considered by the Cabinet); and Housing Revenue Account (paragraph 5.1 of report item 5 considered by the Cabinet) be noted: and

RECOMMENDED:

That the Disabled Facilities Grants gross capital budget be increased by £261,000

The Cabinet considered variations to the Council’s budgets identified in the year to date.

There was a net estimated saving of £654,000 against the original General Fund budget which was now projected to be £16.538 million for the year.  Full details were set out in section 3 of the report, divided between items from portfolios or committees; asset management items and business development/third party grants.  There were significant elements of rephasing from 2015/16 in each of these categories and the cost would be met from earmarked reserves.

The Capital Expenditure programme had increased to £24.193 million as a result of additional budget requirements totalling £1.363 million and the rephasing of schemes totalling £2.161 million from 2015/2016.  Full details were set out in section 4 of the report.  A significant element of the increased budget requirement was the supplementary budget agreed by the Council for works at Milford sea front (Council minute 16, 11 July 2016 refers).  In addition, in February the Council had received notification that its grant allocation for Disabled Facilities Grants had been increased by £335,000 to £901,000 for 2016/17.  It was therefore proposed to remove the original capital allocation from this Council’s funds of £74,000, bringing the total increase in this budget to £261,000; with a consequent increase in revenue expenditure for additional staff to allow implementation of the increased funding.

No variations had yet been identified against the Housing Revenue Account, although slower than expected progress on the maintenance programme might be the subject of an update in the next financial monitoring report.

RESOLVED:

That the latest budget forecasts for the General Fund (paragraph 3.2 of Report Item 4 considered by the Cabinet); Capital Programme (paragraph 4.1 of Report Item 4 considered by the Cabinet); and Housing Revenue Account (paragraph 5.1 of Report Item 5 considered by the Cabinet) be noted; and

RECOMMENDED:

That the Disabled Facilities Grants gross capital budget be increased by £261,000.