Issue - meetings

[To approve the Revenue Budget Outturn 2019-2020]

1.      That the write off of; three non-domestic rates totalling £21,739.16, one sundry debt totalling £6,239.45 and two council tax account totalling £12,186.24 as detailed in Appendices 4 to 6 respectively to the report be approved.

2.      That 11 virements totalling £3.9 million, for transfer within directorates, as detailed in Appendix 7 to the report be approved.

3.      That it be noted that the revenue outturn position for 2019-2020 for the General Fund; a net underspend of £2.0 million (-0.85%) was achieved against the net budget requirement of £234.9 million, after meeting the net cost of redundancy and pension strain and contributions to essential earmarked reserves. The underspend is due to a combination of budget efficiencies across a number of services; including holding posts vacant pending restructures, additional income generation, contingency budgets held for in-year pressures not being required in full, the early achievement of budget reduction targets and a lower number of employees enrolling into the pension scheme.  More information is detailed throughout the report.

4.      That it be noted that whilst the positive General Fund outturn position during 2019-2020, and the resulting adjustments to reserves, would  help to support the Council’s short term financial position, it does not address the challenging financial position that the Council finds itself in over the medium term; namely identifying further projected budget reductions which were estimated at £15.5 million in 2021-2022, rising to around £20 million over the medium term to 2023-2024 when reported to Full Council in March 2020. TheCovid-19 pandemic has had a significant international, national and regional impact, and will continue to have, significant financial implications for the Council.Cabinet would be presented with a report in July 2020 which would provide more detail on the budget implications and the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

5.      That it be noted that the General Fund outturn position takes into account a number of proposed transfers to and from reserves, provisions and balances for which approval is sought in the Reserves, Provisions and Balances 2019-2020 report to be presented at this meeting.

6.      That it be noted that schools which remain under the control of the City of Wolverhampton Council have contributed net £1.2 million of their reserves during 2019-2020 after adjusting for the balance attributable to academies, which takes the total accumulated reserves to £6.3 million at 31 March 2020.

7.      That it be noted that the Housing Revenue Account revenue outturn position for the year was a surplus before allocations of £19.9 million, compared to a budgeted surplus of £20.4 million.

8.      That the Collection Fund outturned with a £2.3 million deficit during 2019-2020; this resulted in an overall deficit of £1.5 million to be carried forward.

9.      That 26 non-domestic rates accounts totalling £233,707.28 have been approved for write off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

10.   That 759 council tax accounts totalling £158,727.36 have been approved for write off by the Director of Finance in accordance with  ...  view the full decision text for item 7

Councillor Louise Miles presented the report on the Council’s revenue budget outturn position for 2019-20210 compared with approved budget and targets. A net underspend of £2 million had been achieved against the General Fund net budget. One of the areas where this had been achieved related to the Pensions Fund take up.  Councillor Miles took the opportunity to encourage the Council’s employees join the pension fund and take up the opportunities the scheme offers.

Councillor Louise Miles also reported that from a recent Government announcement the Council had been informed, in relation to the indirect losses it had suffered as a result of Covid-19, the it would have the meet the first 5% of those costs and then the Government would meet 75p in every £1 of the income losses.  This meant that the Council would have to meet 25p in every £1 of these income losses. The revenue budget 2019/2020 underspend would be used for the Covid-19 related issues and costs and to assist further in the costs for the Council’s recovery proposals.

Resolved:

1.    That the write off of; three non-domestic rates totalling £21,739.16, one sundry debt totalling £6,239.45 and two council tax account totalling £12,186.24 as detailed in Appendices 4 to 6 respectively to the report be approved.

2.    That 11 virements totalling £3.9 million, for transfer within directorates, as detailed in Appendix 7 to the report be approved.

3.    That it be noted that the revenue outturn position for 2019-2020 for the General Fund; a net underspend of £2.0 million (-0.85%) was achieved against the net budget requirement of £234.9 million, after meeting the net cost of redundancy and pension strain and contributions to essential earmarked reserves. The underspend is due to a combination of budget efficiencies across a number of services; including holding posts vacant pending restructures, additional income generation, contingency budgets held for in-year pressures not being required in full, the early achievement of budget reduction targets and a lower number of employees enrolling into the pension scheme.  More information is detailed throughout the report.

4.    That it be noted that whilst the positive General Fund outturn position during 2019-2020, and the resulting adjustments to reserves, would  help to support the Council’s short term financial position, it does not address the challenging financial position that the Council finds itself in over the medium term; namely identifying further projected budget reductions which were estimated at £15.5 million in 2021-2022, rising to around £20 million over the medium term to 2023-2024 when reported to Full Council in March 2020. TheCovid-19 pandemic has had a significant international, national and regional impact, and will continue to have, significant financial implications for the Council.Cabinet would be presented with a report in July 2020 which would provide more detail on the budget implications and the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

5.    That it be noted that the General Fund outturn position takes into account a number of proposed transfers to and from reserves, provisions and balances for which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7