Agenda item

To receive the report from the head of finance.

Councillor Will Hall, William Jacobs, Head of Finance and Bob Watson, Accountancy Manager, attended the committee to present the report and answer questions.

In response to questions, the officers reported that:

·         The alternative to using the reserves is cuts to services, which is not the preferred option;

·         The business continuity plan worked well following the fire at the Crowmarsh Gifford offices;

·         The accountancy team speaks with Heads of Service quarterly to glean year end outturn projections and these are collated into the budget monitoring report. Delayed projects will appear as in-year underspend although these do not result in a long term saving to the council as the expenditure is only deferred rather than cancelled altogether;

·         Planning manage all section 106 contributions until there is a project to pass them onto;

·         By making the Deep Street Clean project a longer term contract, there will be more certainty for the contractor which should result in a reduction in overall cost (subject to negotiations); and

·         It is proposed that Council Tax is reduced by 3%, which still allows for investment including £100,000 being invested in key services.

The committee thanked the officers for their report.