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 ending31 December 2018; and the forecast of expenditure to 31 March 2019 in comparison to the 2018/19 original budget (for copy see file of minutes).

The Treasurer reported that at 31 December 2018 actual net expenditure was £43,086, a small underspend of £46 against a profiled budget of £43,132. It was anticipated that actual expenditure at 31 March 2019 would be slightly lower than the original budget of £67,415 by £3,597. The sum required to be drawn from reserves to balance the budget was therefore expected to reduce from £12,086 to £8,489.

Councillor Wilkes asked for clarification in relation to government funding for properties rented by students and if the Council recover the loss of income.The Treasurer explained that prior to 2013/14 there was a process where local authorities would be reimbursed, however that link was broken with the introduction of the business rate retention scheme. He added that as part of the fair funding review, the authority was taking every possible step to ensure funding be built back into funding arrangements for local authorities in the future. 

Councillor Wilkes then asked whether government specifically specified that money was now internalised within the grant or were they specifically removing any money for student properties.  The Treasurer advised that the amount was never removed, however it was no longer identified as a specified line. Technically the funding was still received but the revenue support grant had been reduced. 

Responding to a further query from Councillor Wilkes regarding funding allocated to Town and Parish Councils and the Charter Trust, the Treasurer would investigate and report back to Councillor Wilkes.

Resolved:

(i)   That the outturn position for the period ended 31 December 2018 be noted;

(ii)  That the forecast outturn to 31 March 2019 be noted.