Agenda item

Report CS2 from the Corporate Manager Democratic and Legal Services and the Civic Support Officer.                                                                (Enclosure)

·                  An update from the Chairman will be given at the meeting.

Decision

That the Constitution and Accounts Committee recommends that the use of own vehicle for the Chairman be increased to £1,000 and the Vice-Chairman travel expenses be increased to £150 both for the coming financial year but that the remainder of the budget be determined through the Council’s budget setting process with a recommendation that it be based upon civic budget gross expenditure out turn figure plus inflation.

Members had before them report CS2 from the Civic Support Officer which detailed how the civic budget to the end of December 2005 had been spent.   The Civic Support Officer drew members’ attention to the fact that the transport costs had been fully allocated and there was still four months of the civic year to go.  All known functions had been included within the transport costs for the next four months.  Additional invites to functions during the next four months would be restricted.  Also circulated to members was a very comprehensive report which the Chairman of the Council had produced, as he was unable to attend the meeting. The Corporate Manager Democratic and Legal Services read the report out to members.   The report referred to the three significant changes that had occurred which were:

·                  the loss of a full time Chairman’s Officer/Driver.

·                  the loss of a part time Chairman’s/Vice- Chairman’s Driver.

·                  the loss of the “official” car.

These had been replaced by utilizing the services of the Chief Executive’s personal assistant on a pro rata basis and contracting out the provision of a vehicle and driver.   These had worked out very well and he commended the dedication of the Civic Support Officer and the support he had received from her.  The contracting out of the hiring of a driver and vehicle had also been successful and the contractor provided an exemplary service both in the vehicles and drivers he supplied.  The Chairman of the Council referred to the online access to the Civic Budget via a dedicated link which enabled him along with the Civic Support Officer to manage the budget on a day to day basis.  The report then gave an overview of the invitations that the Chairman received and approximately one-third of the 100 or so functions attended to date had been undertaken by self-drive.  He referred to the elements of the driver and vehicle contract and despite the large number of self drives that had been undertaken and taking into account the known commitments to the end of the civic year the travel element of the Civic Budget was all but expended.   He referred to the sale of the Civic car and whether some of the proceeds could be used to enable further additional invitations to be accepted.  The report concluded by referring to the number of self-drives and the consideration of an increase in the budget head for Use of Own Vehicle.  He also referred to the location of where the Chairman lived within the district as this would also impact on the travel budget and suggested that maybe the Chairman’s Civic Budget should be combined into one budget heading.   Although he appreciated that there was great flexibility between three of the four elements of the budget.  His final comment again referred to the work that the Civic Support Officer undertook which left noting to be desired.

The Vice-Chairman of the Council who attended the meeting asked to speak to which the Committee agreed and he fully endorsed what the Chairman of the Council had written.

Members discussed the Chairman of the Council’s report and all agreed that he had been an exemplary Chairman of the Council.  Questions were asked about the self-drive element of the budget and the costs incurred and it was agreed that this element be increase from £100 to £1,000 for the next year.  Also the travel expenses of the Vice-Chairman be increased from £100 to £150.  It was suggested that the Use of Own Vehicle and the Travel Expenses-Vice Chairman be combined, however, the Chief Executive indicated that for audit purposes it was better if they were on separate lines.  The issue of the Chairman’s retiring gift was also referred to but the budget would take account of this element.

The issue of combining all four elements into one heading was then discussed, however it was felt that if members wished to go down this path then they would need to specify if the Chairman held a Civic dinner, Civic Service etc and members agreed to leave the budget headings as they were.

The issue of the sale of the Civic vehicle was then discussed and whether the money from the vehicle was available to increase the budget or not. The Principal Accountant informed the Committee that the receipt from the sale of the Civic vehicle had been allocated to the Civic budget and was available if they Committee wished to increase the budget.  Due to the difficulties that had been encountered with the Civic Budget in the past, the Committee felt that the budget as they set it should be adhered to with no increase; therefore the General Fund would absorb any under-spend by the Civic budget.  Members agreed that the budget for the next year should be set as shown in the outrun for the year plus inflation with the increase in the Use of Own Vehicle from £100 to £1000 and Vice-Chairman expenses to increase from £100 to £150.