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Waverley Borough Council Committee System - Committee Document

Meeting of the Executive held on 04/09/2007
BUDGET MONITORING - JULY 2007


Summary & Purpose
This report provides details of the expenditure and income position to July 2007 compared with the budget for the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account. It also gives an update on the Capital Programme for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account.
APPENDIX C
Waverley Borough Council

EXECUTIVE - 4TH SEPTEMBER 2007

Title:
BUDGET MONITORING - JULY 2007
[Wards Affected: All]

Summary and purpose:

This report provides details of the expenditure and income position to July 2007 compared with the budget for the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account. It also gives an update on the Capital Programme for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account.


Environmental implications:

There are no direct environmental implications relating to this report.

Social / community implications:

There are no direct social/community implications relating to this report.

E-Government implications:

There are no direct E-Government implications relating to this report.

Resource and legal implications:

This report shows the budget monitoring position to July 2007 for the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account. It monitors the progress of revenue expenditure and income and projects the likely year-end position. The position on capital expenditure is also given.

General Fund

1. The first Budget Monitoring for the year forecasts an underspend at the year-end of £201,840.

2. The main elements of this underspend are additional interest; additional Land Charges income; offset by legal costs of £80,000 for Dunsfold. If a supplementary estimate is approved to cover the Council’s legal costs, this will have the effect of increasing the underspend to some £280,000, although the actual use of balances will be unchanged.

3. The main projected variations from Budget are shown in the table at Annexe 1.

Inflation Provision

4. The Budget includes an Inflation Provision of £480,000. This covers all of the known major cost increases. The first call on the Inflation Provision is £287,360, this includes the allocation for the year on all the main contracts. This use is in line with the amounts provided for within the Inflation Provision and will be fully allocated by the year-end.
Target Reductions

5. The table below lists the target reductions included in the budget for 2007-08, together with the level of achievement to date.

Target
£
Status
Officer Manpower savings target
General Fund
300,000
It is likely that the target will be achieved by the year-end
Supplementary Estimates

6. The approved Supplementary Estimates are shown below:-
ServiceAmount
£
Undershaw Hotel
65,000
Executive 9th January 2007
Website Manager
18,000
Executive 10th July 2007
Charges for Planning services
52,000
Executive 10th July 2007
£135,000
Use of Balances

7. The Budget for 2007-08 includes a contribution of £450,000 from the General Fund working balance. 8. The underspend, together with the Supplementary Estimates identified at paragraph 6 and the revenue carry forward from 2006-07 to 2007-08 of £144,210, gives a forecast contribution from balances at the year end of £527,370. 9. The use of the Revenue Reserve Fund is budgeted at £150,000.
Housing Revenue Account

10. The major variations identified are attached at Annexe 3, including an overspend of £55,300.


Use of Balances

11. The Budget for 2007-08 includes a contribution of £80,910 from the Housing Revenue Account working balance. The overspend, together with the revenue carry forward from 2006-07 to 2007-08 of £90,000, gives a forecast contribution from balances at the year end of £226,210.
Capital Programme

12. The detailed monitoring report for the General Fund Capital Programme is attached at Annexe 4.

13. Expenditure for the first four months of the year is £684,000, from a total approved Programme of £6.84million. However, the monitoring process has identified that some £2.5million of expenditure will now be rescheduled to 2008-2009. In the main, this arises from the Leisure Strategy with the main refurbishment programme rescheduled to follow the new contract commencing July 2008. As the notes to Annexe 3 indicate, a substantial part of the remaining Programme is scheduled to be delivered during the next few months.

Housing Revenue Account

14. From a total programme of £6,841,000, spend to date is £1,927,705 which includes most of the £836,000 slippage from 2006-07. With all the main 2007-08 contracts now running, spend should accrue evenly throughout the rest of the year.

15. Double Glazing Programme - an extension to the existing contract allows £100,000 of work to start by the end of August. The remaining £450,000 allowed in this financial year should be spent in the last quarter, once a new contract has been let for the proposed double-glazing of 1000 homes.

Revenues Cash Collection

National Non-Domestic Rates

16. The net cash collected in the financial year to 31st July 2007 was £13,259,475. When compared with a net collectable debit at 31st July 2007 of £32,044,482, this represents a collection rate of 41.38%. The comparable collection rate in the previous financial year was 40.74%.

Council Tax

17. The net cash collected in the financial year to 31st July 2007 was £28,434,512. When compared with a net collectable debit at 31st July 2007 of £70,988,512, this represents a collection rate of 40.06%. The comparable collection rate in the previous financial year was 40.10%.

Conclusion

18. Corporate Management Team will continue to monitor the position to the end of the financial year and take action where appropriate to contain expenditure within budgets.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the current monitoring position for the General Fund Revenue Account, Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme be noted.

Background Papers (DoF)

There are no background papers (as defined by Section 100D(5) of the Local Government Act 1972) relating to this report.

CONTACT OFFICER:

Name: Brian Long Telephone: 01483 523253
E-mail: blong@waverley.gov.uk



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