Agenda item

RESOLVED that 1) the revised General Fund budget for 2023/24 as set out in Appendix 1 and detailed in Appendix 2 to the report be approved,

2) the revised HRA budget for 2023/24 as set out in Appendix 3 andAppendix 4 to the report, be approved,

3) the revised Capital Programme for 2023/24 as set out within Appendix 5 to the report be approved.

Executive considered a detailed report which sought Member’s approval of the 2023/24 revised budget for the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme.

As Members had been previously advised in the budget monitoring report for quarters 1 and 2, a number of Council services were transferred into the Council’s wholly owned company, Dragonfly, who would be operating the services on behalf of the Council under service level agreements. The payments to Dragonfly for operating the Council’s services were included in the figures attached to the report.

The figures for the payments due from Dragonfly for the support services from the Council, were not yet included because the charging mechanism was still to be decided. This would be finalised soon, and the income calculated to allow it to be included in the MTFP report which would be presented to Members in February 2024.

As the report was only concerned with the Council’s services, it therefore did not include expenditure or income relating to the commercial activities of Dragonfly.

Members discussed void properties and the loss of rental income to the Council. However, it was noted that this was being addressed with improvements to the process being made in line with current legislation.

Members noted the Government’s lift on the cap of the costs charged by external auditors which had attracted a lot of criticism nationally. The Council also had a further £10k to pay to its external auditors due to an objection made by a member of the public to the Council’s accounts in relation to Dragonfly. The Chief Executive noted that this figure could be doubled due to officers’ time taken to provide a response to the objection.

Moved by Councillor Clive Moesby and seconded by Councillor John Ritchie

RESOLVED that 1) the revised General Fund budget for 2023/24 as set out in Appendix 1 and detailed in Appendix 2 to the report, be approved,

            2) the revised HRA budget for 2023/24 as set out in Appendix 3 and 4 to the report, be approved,

            3) the revised Capital Programme for 2023/24 as set out within Appendix 5 to the report, be approved.

Reasons for Recommendation

The purpose of the report was to set revised budgets as early as possible within the financial year to ensure that identified budget savings were realised, that all budget managers were working to the revised budgets and to allow any planned changes to be delivered.

Alternative Options and Reasons for Rejection

General Fund and HRA

Any surplus on the Council’s two main revenue accounts would result in an increase in financial balances at the year-end which were available to protect services at a time of declining central government support. It was proposed that additional resources would be transferred to reserves in preparation for future expenditure.

Capital

There were no alternative options being considered with regard to the proposed allocations from the Capital Programme budget as it ensured the Council’s assets met health and safety requirements in that they were maintained in a fit for purpose state that ensured they remained fully operational.