The Shared Director of Finance and Head of Finance Shared Services provided an overview of the changes to Business Rates and the impact on Watford Borough Council.

Throughout the presentation the officers responded to questions from the Panel.

The Chair thanked the Shared Director of Finance and Head of Finance Shared Services for the presentation.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Rackett.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 October 2013 to be submitted and signed.  (All minutes are available on the Council’s website.)

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 October 2013 were submitted and signed subject to the following amendment -

22 – REVENUES AND BENEFITS UPDATE

The first sentence of the paragraph commencing “Councillor Khan, a non-Panel Member, referred to …..” should be amended to read –

“Councillor Khan, a non-Panel Member, referred to a report written by the Department for Works and Pensions which had commented on the state of the Revenues and Benefits service and to the External Auditor’s report for 2012/13, with regard to Watford Borough Council’s performance in relation to other districts in Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey.”

The Programme Manager will provide a presentation covering an overview of commercial rents, including income collected, potential for growth, debt levels and vacancy rates.

The Programme Manager provided a presentation covering an overview of property owned by the Council, including the types of property within the portfolio, debt management and asset valuations.  He also explained the service’s review of the Council’s assets.

Throughout the presentation the Programme Manager responded to the Panel’s questions.

The Chair thanked the Programme Manager for the presentation and the Panel for its contributions.

RESOLVED –

that the report be noted.

Report of the Senior Accountant

This report informs the Budget Panel of the reported budgetary variances at the end of October 2013 (period 7).

The Panel received the latest edition of the Finance Digest. 

Members commented that it was difficult interpreting some of the information within the report.  Councillor Turmaine suggested that additional commentary could be added to aid readers.  The Chair added that he had also discussed this with officers.

The Head of Finance Shared Services acknowledged that the document was not user-friendly and would be difficult for non-financial people to understand.  He stated that the Digest had been in the same format for several years.  The document highlighted the variances for the current month.  The Shared Internal Audit Service would be undertaking a best practice review on financial monitoring and reporting with various local authorities and would be reporting on this later in the year.  Members would be consulted. 

Following comments about the icons used in the document, the Head of Finance Shared Services advised that when the document had last been updated Members had commented that they liked the small icons.  The symbols were automatically inserted following the comparison of the forecast outturn and the original budget.  The Digest provided information throughout the year but did not make comparisons with previous months.  One Member said that the icons helped to identify areas of concern. 

Corporate Strategy and Client Services

Councillor Turmaine noted the Strategic Finance overspend forecast for the current year.  He asked for clarification of the agreed budget changes for Corporate Strategy and Client Services.

The Head of Finance Shared Services explained that the figures in brackets represented a reduction in the budget.  A new line ‘Contract Monitoring’ had been added.  When the budget had originally been set it was not known that the services would be outsourced to Veolia.  There was no overall change to the service’s expenditure.

Following a question from the Chair, the Head of Finance Shared Services stated that the line entitled ‘Grants’ included the grants to the commissioned organisations including the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and the Palace Theatre, plus the small grants fund.

Councillor D Scudder, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Strategy and Client Services, responded to the Chair’s question regarding how organisations were informed about the small grants fund.  He informed Members that the information had been included in the Members’ Bulletin and all Councillors had been given a number of A5 flyers. 

Councillor Aron added that posters had also been placed in locations accessible to the public.

The Committee and Scrutiny Officer advised on the Task Group which had worked with officers on the new Commissioning Framework.  When Overview and Scrutiny Committee had reviewed the implementation of the Task Group’s recommendations, officers had been asked to ensure that information was circulated to all Councillors.

The Chair asked that Councillors were supplied with additional leaflets.

Councillor Scudder advised that in 2012/13 the small grants budget had seen an underspend.  For the current financial year it was on target. 

Regeneration and Development

Following a question from the Chair about the figures contained in brackets, the Head of Finance Shared Services explained that the information for Commercial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

This report informs Budget Panel of the proposal for fees and charges in 2014/15.

The Panel received a report of the Senior Accountant which included the proposed fees and charges for 2014/15 for the various services by the Council.

Following a question from Councillor Turmaine about an impact assessment being carried out, Councillor D Scudder, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Strategy and Client Services, informed the Panel that an impact assessment was not completed every year.  The fees and charges report was part of the annual process in the preparation of the budget for the following year. 

In response to a question from Councillor Turmaine about Meriden Community Centre, the Portfolio Holder advised that all community centres were managed by external groups and were subject to Service Level Agreements.

Parking Services

Members noted the officers’ proposals to increase the permit charges for the first and second permits.  The Chair commented that at the last meeting the Panel had had a thorough discussion on this matter and it had been agreed that the Panel was unable to make any suggestions to Cabinet regarding an increase.  The Chair asked whether this report was being presented to Cabinet on 2 December.

The Head of Regeneration and Development advised that, in December, officers would be presenting a report on the results of the recent parking survey.  The fees and charges report would not be presented.  She explained that all Heads of Service were tasked with reviewing the fees and charges every year.  It had been decided that the parking permit charges should be increased annually.  The proposal was to increase the first permit from £22 to £25 and the second permit from £52 to £55.  She did not consider it useful to take note of the percentage increase.  As the permit charge was relatively low, the percentage increase gave a skewed reflection of the actual increase which was £3.

Councillor Derbyshire stated that he disagreed with the proposal, however a modest increase would be more acceptable.  He felt that the percentage increase was relevant, as people would be aware that the proposal was substantially in excess of current inflation.  He questioned whether the increase was necessary.  He referred to the publicly available Annual Parking Enforcement report for 2012/13.  The account should be self-funding and at no expense to the taxpayer.  He stated that it was important that officers took into account the management fees from Three Rivers District Council and Dacorum Borough Council.

Councillor Derbyshire then referred to the report and appendices presented at the previous meeting.  He said that the report had stated that there would be a carry forward of £297,000.  The documents had also included a list of proposed schemes for 2014/15 which meant that there would be approximately £100,000 in the parking reserve account.  He acknowledged that the account should be ‘topped up’, but not by the amount suggested by officers.  A modest increase would be reasonable and should be limited to 5%.  He suggested that the first permit should be increased by £1 and the second permit increased as proposed in the report.

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

·               Wednesday 15 January 2014

·               Wednesday 26 February 2014

·               Wednesday 15 January 2014

·               Wednesday 26 February 2014