An extract of the Finance Scrutiny Committee meeting minutes on 25 June 2019 where this item was considered had been circulated to Cabinet.

Councillor Watkin introduced the report and explained that the council had been successful in keeping costs under control and there had been a slight underspend.  Some projects had not been able to complete so £1.3million would be carried forward to the 2019/20 budget.  Reserves had increased as funds had been repaid into the economic impact reserve, along with proceeds from the Riverwell development.  Cabinet was asked write off £110,000 from the multiple millions which the council invoiced each year and the revenue team went to considerable lengths to ensure payment.  Some of the capital budget had been rephased but there were large projects such as Oxhey Park Cycle Park coming soon.

It was noted by Cabinet that the write-offs were made as the council considered it was less likely to be able to recover the debt, however, if new evidence was submitted then further efforts to collect the debt would be made.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1.               Considered the 2018/19 revenue outturn as shown in Annex A to the report and noted the year end position which included requests to carry forward budgets into 2019/20.

2. Approved the 2018/19 budget carry forwards into 2019/20 as recommended by the Strategic Leadership Team totalling £1.302million.

3. Considered the capital outturn as shown in Annex A and approved the rephasing of £11.48 million into 2019/20 and later years.

4. Approved the write off sum of £110,026.71 in respect of irrecoverable debts.