There was a change of membership for this meeting: Councillor Collett replaced Councillor Greenslade and Councillor Williams replaced Councillor Taylor.

It was noted that Councillor Counter had sent apologies as she would be arriving late due to work commitments.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 October 2014 to be submitted and signed. 

Copies of the minutes of this meeting are usually available seven working days following the meeting.

(All minutes are available on the Council’s website.)

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 October 2014 were submitted and signed.

Report of the Finance Manager

This report informs the Budget Panel of the proposal for increases to “Fees and Charges” in 2015/16.

The Panel received a report of the Finance Manager setting out the proposed fees and charges for the financial year 2015/16.

The Director of Finance Shared Services informed the Panel that the majority of changes were due either to the way a service was provided to the customer or the volume had changed.

Budget Movement Reconciliation

Councillor Martins commented that it was a good report and was pleased that the Council had not proposed to make too many changes.  He asked whether ‘Environmental Miscellaneous’ should be included.

The Director of Finance Shared Services advised that the budget variance was probably due to a change in volume.  The comments referred to a reduction in Fixed Penalty Notices. 

Councillor Martins referred to Centrepoint Community Centre.  He was aware that the centre had returned to the Council’s control.  He asked what steps the Council would be taking to increase the income from this centre. 

The Director of Finance Shared Services advised that she would ask the Head of Corporate Strategy and Client Services to provide a written response to the Panel.

The Chair informed the Panel that the Property Task Group had recently received a summarised version of the consultant’s final report into the Council’s property portfolio.  He felt that a wider Member participation was needed in reviewing the report and some of its key questions.  He suggested that it could be built into Budget Panel’s work programme. 

Corporate Strategy and Client Services’ Charges

Cheslyn Gardens

Councillor Martins noted the increased charges for Cheslyn Gardens.  He felt there was not a great demand to hire this venue and if the charge was increased, there could be less demand in the future.  He believed that people should be encouraged to use it.

The Director of Finance Shared Services advised that officers could review how much income the Council received from hiring Cheslyn Gardens. 

Councillor Joynes suggested that the terms and conditions for hire may require some educational aspect to be included in events there.  Councillor Aron confirmed that this was correct as she hired on behalf of a lunch club and they were required to provide some educational element at each session.

Graffiti Removal

The Panel had a thorough discussion on the proposed increased charge for the removal of graffiti from private property.  This charge was considered to be penalising someone who was the victim of anti social behaviour.  Members commented that it was unreasonable to charge a person to have sexist, racist or offensive words removed from their property.  One suggestion was that the Council should not charge for the removal of sexist, racist or offensive language.  However, several Members felt that further information was needed about the charging strategy.  It was recognised that there was a cost to the Council each time graffiti had to be removed.  It was suggested that a scrutiny review should be carried out to consider the overall policy related to the removal of graffiti. 

The Committee and Scrutiny Officer referred the Panel to the report  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

This report provides Budget Panel with the latest edition of the Finance Digest.

The Panel received the latest Finance Digest, which covered the period to the end of October.

The Director of Finance Shared Services informed the Panel that this was the first edition in the new format.  She asked Members that if they had any comments regarding the format to contact the officers.  She highlighted some of the key elements within the report.  

The Acting Head of Finance Shared Services drew the Panel’s attention to the Treasury Management section.  He advised that the current predictions were that interest rates would not rise until June 2015. 

The Chair commented that he liked the version of the Treasury Management which showed the various banks the Council invested in, including the current rate of interest.

The Acting Head of Finance Shared Services advised that this could be incorporated into future editions.  It was noted that the Treasury Management report was regularly presented to Audit Committee.  A report was to be presented to Audit Committee on 10 December. 

Following a question from Councillor Aron, the Director of Finance Shared Services advised that she would contact the relevant department for further information regarding the income from Hertfordshire County Council for parks and open spaces.

The Director of Finance Shared Services also agreed to obtain information regarding the Colosseum contract service. 

Councillor Williams asked if officers could provide further information about the Legal and Property debtors.  He also requested information on any write off policy the Council had in place.

The Director of Finance Shared Services confirmed that the Council did have a policy.  She was able to agree debts could be written off to a certain level and above that level a report would have to be presented to Cabinet. 

The Chair noted the unfavourable variance of £100,000 for Economic Development projects and initiatives.  The Panel was advised that this was further explained in the next section of the report as being funded from reserves.  The Chair informed the Panel that the previous evening Cabinet had agreed the Economic Development Strategy.  He suggested that the Panel might wish to have some input into the strategy.  He asked the Committee and Scrutiny Officer to ensure the report was circulated to Budget Panel. 

RESOLVED –

that Budget Panel’s comments be noted.

·               Thursday 15 January 2015

·               Tuesday 24 February 2015

·               Thursday 15 January 2015

·               Tuesday 24 February 2015