Issue - meetings

This report provides the Cabinet with the details of the Council’s provisional outturn position for the financial year 2023/2024. The report covers the following areas:
• General Fund Revenue Budget
• Housing Revenue Account Budget
• Capital Programmes – General Fund and Housing Revenue Account
• Reserves overview – General Fund and Housing Revenue Account

Purpose of report

This report provides Cabinet with the details of the Council’s provisional outturn position for the financial year 2023/24. The report covers the following areas:

• General Fund Revenue Budget

• Housing Revenue Account Budget

• Capital Programmes – General Fund and Housing Revenue Account

• Reserves overview – General Fund and Housing Revenue Account

Decision

Cabinet recommended to Governance and Audit Committee:

1.    The provisional Revenue and Capital Outturn position for the financial year 2023/24.

2.    The following reserve movements in respect of the General Fund:

o £680k of the Business Rates Volatility Reserve to be transferred to

the:

? ICT Reserve increase by £200k

? Property Maintenance Reserve increase by £250k

? Creation of a Flood Reserve of £30k

? Creation of a Leisure Investment Reserve of £200k

3.    The following reserve movement in respect of the Housing Revenue Account:

• Transfer £100k from the HRA Priorities Reserve to create an HRA Climate Change Reserve

4.    Delegate to the Deputy Chief Executive and section 151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Members for Finance, HR & Economic Development and Housing to finalise the reserve movements in order to ensure the Working Balance level for the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account are maintained at prudent levels.

Cabinet:

5.    Reviewed and approved the budget carry forwards. (Section 3, 4, 5 & 6)

Alternative options considered and rejected

Cabinet needed to approve budget carry forwards and there are a number of recommendations to the Governance & Audit Committee. Therefore, the option for not producing a provisional outturn report was discounted.

The creation of a Flood Reserve would enable the Council to act quickly and decisively when residents were impacted by flooding.

The creation of an HRA Climate Change Reserve would enable climate change initiatives to take place through the HRA.

Reasons for decision

Members should be kept updated on the financial position of the Authority, as effective budget management was critical to ensuring financial resources were spent in line with the budget and were targeted towards the Council’s priorities. Monitoring enabled the early identification of variations against the plan and facilitated timely corrective action.

This report provided an overview of the provisional outturn financial position for the Council for 2023/24. It was important to maintain the IT and Property Maintenance Reserves at a high level to account for any hardware upgrades, or urgent maintenance to Council owned buildings. A recent example of property maintenance carried out was the replacement roof at Bourne Leisure Centre.

The Leisure Investment Reserve would enable investments in the Council’s leisure facilities. It was hoped that there would also be funding available from the government.