Council Budget Shows Under Spend Of £575k

The Council Budget was under spent by £575k at the end of the 2012/2013 financial year.

A report will be given to the Executive Board meeting next week to note the ‘sound outturn position’ and the level of its general balances.

The Council say the budget was closely monitored and controlled throughout the year and as part of the cash limited budgeting system approved by Council, monthly reports were made to all Members. The under spend was anticipated as services began work to implement 2013/14 savings of £3.2m.

Excluding schools the actual total expenditure is analysed as follows:

• Collectively services spent £111,826k which was £402k more than the budget.
• Corporate and central expenditure was under spent by £926k primarily due to savings in the transformation budget.
• The net yield from local taxation was £51k greater than expected

Cllr Neil Rogers said: “It’s showing Wrexham Council has good management of it’s funding.

“A positive outcome shows we are managing our business well.”

Schools in the area have also under spent by £232k against a total net budget of £212m. The school budgets are delegated and spent by themselves, the Council has little control how their money is spent.

Next week it will be recommended to the Executive Board that £300k is returned to the winter maintenance reserve, as this was ‘fully utilised during the extensive period of cold weather’ at the beginning of the year.

The main areas of overspend related to income being lower than expected for planning fees and parking. In the report on carparking the overspend explaination is listed as:

“Income was under budget by £216k, ticket Income was £151k under and fines £65k under budget. The figures represent a drop in annual ticket Income of £61k, and fines £38k when compared to the previous year (during this period there was a pilot scheme to reduce the charging period in two car parks). There was a reduction in expenditure of £88k, equipment purchases £33k and sub-contractor costs £48k”

One of the largest overspends came from the Assests and Economics Development which overspent by £625k. The department budget is heavily dependent on the balance between variable expenditure and uncertain income. This covers: Commercial Estate (£466k), School catering (£325k) and Public offices (£96k).

School meals have been particularly affected as a result of an increase in wholesaler prices and the recession, which has resulted in families choosing to provide their children with packed lunches rather than school dinners.

Cllr Rogers pointed out that there is a ‘huge challenge ahead of us’ before continuing onto say the ‘crystal ball looks cloudy for next year.’

The report on the Council’s website can be found here.