Issue - meetings

Members gave consideration to a report presented by the Business Support Team Leader, who explained it detailed the final budget and treasury outturn position for 2024/25, subject to the audit of the statement of accounts. In summary, it was explained that against revenue budgets, there was a net contribution to reserves of £1.126m. The variance against service budgets was virtually breaking even with a small underspend of £6,000, which demonstrated excellent budget management on behalf of budget managers and their teams. The significant variance of £1.12 million arose from corporate budgets including:

•              Net interest on investments (an increase in income of £504,000)

•              Corporate contingency budgets not required (a saving of £325,000)

•              And Government grants received in the final quarter (total income of £291,000)

Members were being asked to approve the allocation of the surplus to reserves as follows:

•              £250,000 to an earmarked reserve to support the new capital assets created from grant funded schemes

•              £50,000 to the Neighbourhood Planning reserve

•              the balance of £826,000 to the Business Rates Volatility Reserve – which may be applied to reduce the forecast funding deficit in 2026/27 (with the gap currently estimated at £1.245m)

In relation to capital Members heard there was a variance against revised budget of £5.563m. Of this £4.789m was requested for carry forward into 2025/2026 (the largest being £1.788m for HUG Phase 2 with final payments due to be made in 25/26). The balance of £0.774m being net underspends on scheme budgets.

In addition to the allocation of the revenue surplus, there were several recommendations for Member approval, those being: the total use of reserves of £0.380m which included RAF Scampton legal costs (as previously agreed by the committee) and revenue costs for the cinema project; the contribution to reserves of £0.639m being the balance of grants received during the year with no conditions to repay, and return of match funding for UKSPF projects; the spend of the revenue budget carry forward of £35,000 for the extension of LUF resources for 3 months; the amendments to the 2025/26 fees and charges schedule for land charges search fees which were set by Lincolnshire County Council,  and statutory private water supply work to reflect amended regulations; and to approve the amendments to the capital schemes contained within the report at section 3.2.

Members thanked the Officer for her concise summary and the clarity of the information contained within the report. In response to a question regarding the Scampton costs, it was confirmed that the Committee would continue to receive updates through the quarterly reports and as and when final figures were available these would be shared with Members. It was also clarified that the introduction of the big bin hire was considered to be additional income and therefore not included in the commercial waste deficit details.

A Member of the Committee enquired as to whether monies had been required to be returned to government under the capital schemes referenced within the repot. It was confirmed that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10