Agenda item

Charter Trustees considered a report of the Treasurer that provided information on the actual expenditure compared to the profiled budget for the period ending 30 September 2015; and the forecast of expenditure to 31 March 2016 in comparison to the 2015/16 original budget (for copy see file of minutes).

The Treasurer reported that at 30 September 2015 actual net expenditure was £28,684; an underspend of £4,891 against a profiled budget of £33,575. It was anticipated that actual expenditure at 31 March 2016 would be slightly lower than the original budget, therefore the sum required to be drawn from reserves to balance the budget would therefore be expected to reduce from £6,883 to £1,405

Councillor N Martin asked about the Civic Dinner income as had assumed it was a charity fundraising exercise with the proceeds going to the Mayors charity.  Trustees were advised that there was a fundraising section during the evening and the Treasurer advised that he would be happy to isolate from the Mayors hospitality budget the costs associated with the event.  Councillor Martin said that there should be a note in the accounts. 

Referring to allowances for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Councillor M Williams asked that this be included in the accounts should they wish to claim in the future.  The Treasurer advised that this would be a discussion when setting the budget.  Councillor Martin agreed that this should be included as the budget was set before the postholders were appointed.  The Treasurer suggested that the flexibility of reserves could be used.  The Mayor suggested that a working group be set up to look at future budget years.

Resolved:

(i)           That the outturn position for the period ended 30 September 2015             be        noted;

(ii)          That the forecast outturn to 31 March 2016 be noted;

(iii)         That costs for the Civic Dinner be reported back to Trustees; and

(iv)         That a Working Group be set up regarding setting the budget.