Council Finance Report (& Others!) Presented To Executive Board
Last week we previewed the report to the Council’s Executive Board which detailed the budget position of the Council itself. The report presented today shows an under-spend of £575k.
The Executive Board was told that although £575,000 ‘sounds like a lot of money, it is just under half a percent under-spend of the net budget of £212 million’.
Cllr King told the meeting his report recommends £300,000 should go back to winter maintenance reserves “In case we have a winter like the one that’s just gone’.
He justified this by saying “They are unusual events, but that is what reserves are for and clearly we need to rebuild those.”
“This report has also gone to the scrutiny committee, who gave it a good going over. They had a different view on what should happen with the overspends. They thought they should not be approved, with the argument being that the reasons for the overspends were not due to responsibilities inside those departments. The scrutiny committee supported the rest of the report, but felt it was harsh to move the 25% to the next year.”
Figures involved are around £50k in a budget of £25 million ‘so the figures are not a vast amount’ in context.
Cllr Hugh Jones picked up on the Environmental Department saying the car parks overspend (£128k) was due to change of policy after the budget was formed, therefore council ‘knew what they were doing’. Incidentally fines were under budget by £65k, so in theory there could be ‘punishment’ for the people of Wrexham (and visitors!) parking correctly.
Cllr Jones went on to say the £90,000 overspend in school escorts ‘showed up our budgetary process and discipline’.
Talking about the Planning Departments £307,000 overspend it was commented that there was a reduction of planning applications and therefore income (£350k).
Cllr Jones said: “Most in this room would know that planning income would drop through the floor. To say departmentally we have done well is not good enough.
“It shows a lack of fiscal discipline in these areas, and we need to be sharper when preparing out budgets.
“Those areas of overspend should be subject to a higher degree of scrutiny.”
Cllr Bob Dutton said in terms of school escorts overspend “There clearly was a mistake in terms of the amount put into the budget, it was wrong to put the figure in, the overspend is a result of that.”
Lead member for planning Cllr Mark Pritchard, said: “These savings were set in the boom times (2008/09) and we are aware there is less development taking place now.
“There will be loss of jobs, roughly by half, in the department.”
A critical comment about the setting of budgets was also made saying “We should as an authority be able to cater for peaks and troughs.”
He also disagreed about some aspects of the budget, specifically mentioning school escorts saying “For us to make the £100k savings in school escorts, we would have to reduce them by 60%, that would mean 4-5 children per vehicle.”
Cllr King said it was a positive story saying overall ‘This is a fine performance.”
The Executive Board unanimously accepted the report and recommendations.
The report on the Council’s website can be found here, and a discussion can be found on our forums here….
Other Bits From Today’s Executive Board….
Contaminated Land Strategy
Cllr Kelly said much of this land could be in Minera , and officers have worked closely with him. He said: “The concern of residents and myself is who pays for any remedial work. There are no issues at the moment, but please keep us up to speed!”
Robert Johnston of Wrexham Council said: “Various samples have been taken and Public Health Wales are being liaised with. It is too early to say who would pay with it. If the lead mine was found to have an issue it would be the person who currently owns the land. ”
The Council approved and adopted the new strategy, and the report can be found here on the Council’s site.
Venture Site To Get Land From Council
Wrexham Council were told of a request for additional land for The Venture, to create a car park. Currently The Venture have a 60 year peppercorn lease for land from the Council, running from 1988 for 1.4 acres of land, which was extended in 2003 to encompass further land.
Cllr Bob Dutton queried if Council lawyers were happy with the attachment of the new land to an existing lease rather than a new lease.
The Executive Board were advised “I am happy that legally it can be done, but I cant comment on the £1”.
A statutory notice will be placed, adding to the usual council bill – more here on them – which will be in excess of the rent.
The full Council report can be found here.
School Transport Policy Discussed
The report to the Executive Board, which can be found here, was thought to be a potentially controversial one however there was hardly any debate.
One query was made asking “If the recommendations are supported today can the authority say that all will be treated equally regardless of which school they attend”
Cllr Hugh Jones said: “It meets the required legislation and its being implemented fair and equitably over the County Borough.”
No further comments were made and it was accepted by the Executive Board.
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