Agenda item

Budget Outturn Quarter 2 2019/2020

Minutes:

Joint Report of the Corporate Director of Resources and Corporate Director of Regeneration and Local Services that presented members with details of the forecast outturn budget for this service area that highlighted major variances in comparison with budget based on the position to the end of Quarter 2 (for copy see file of minutes).

 

The Finance Manager was in attendance to deliver a presentation on the budget outturn for quarter 2 2019/2020 for Regeneration and Local Services that fell under the remit of this Committee.  He noted that figures shown in the report were from April 2019 to September 2019 that highlighted a forecasted revenue overspend of £1.765 million against a revised budget of £73,650 million.

 

The Finance Manager explained that there were reasons for under and overspending against relevant budget heads that included such things as overspends on waste contracts as tonnage of waste had increased, business rates had been revaluated on premises, staff regrading had increased spending, reduced income from the Gala Theatre and staff TUPE over from Leisure works that was now under Durham County Council’s control had cost money. He noted that there was money in the reserves that could be drawn down for overspent budgets as sometimes overspends were outside the control of the service. He added that money would go into the budget next year that would rein back the one off overspends in 2021 to make the situation better.

 

The Finance Manager informed the group that details of Quarter three would be brought to the next meeting.

 

Councillor Adam asked if the identified large overspend in Quarter two would still be as large by Quarter three and Quarter four or would it be recovered in 2021.

 

The Finance Manager hoped that the overspend would be recovered in 2021 as there were plans in place to alleviate the overspend within each service.

 

The Finance Manager informed the Committee that the Corporate Director of Regeneration and Local Services had left the authority and the service was to be split in two. He added that this change would improve the performance of the budget.

 

Councillor Maddison queried how climate change would impact the budget as hot weather would increase the growth of weeds in gutters that would put pressure on services to remove them.  She wanted to know if this was taken into consideration within the budget.

 

The Finance Manager responded that additional investment through the budget was included for Climate Change over a period of time as some services did come under pressure.  He noted that the service would then realign resources across the board. He added that work continued around climate change and a report was to be presented at a full council meeting in the near future.

 

Mrs Holden asked how overspend within Highways was managed and how repairs were prioritised.

 

The Finance Manager was aware that there was a backlog within Highways both nationally and within Durham County Council.  Highways were keen to develop priority two repairs but resources were limited as to how much could be spent.

 

Councillor Higgins was concerned regarding the quality of materials used to maintain highways.  He noted that no sooner a repair was carried out it needed to be repaired again as the materials just broke up.

 

Councillor Adam highlighted that it was not the remit of the Finance Manager to answer questions on the quality of materials purchased by departments.  He added that an item on Highways was scheduled to come to the Committee’s April meeting.

 

Councillor Coult was surprised at the overspend that had been created with the Gala Theatre to make it more environmentally friendly.

The Finance Manager responded that there were steps in placed around the budget for the Gala Theatre. He noted that the budget would be increased to factor in the competitive market in which it sat with other cinemas operating in the area.  He noted that the budget should even itself out for next year. 

 

Councillor Adam stated that a lot of work had been carried out with the Gala Theatre due to the competitive market.  This could be discussed at the next meeting where questions could be asked.

 

Resolved: That the report be noted.

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