Budget monitoring – half-year position report of the treasurer
The papers attached show the budget for 2022/23 and the actual 2022/23 expenditure and income up to 30th September, the halfway point in the year. Whilst it is good practice to report this to members it is recognised that, on its own, it is of limited value. For this reason the report also provides a forecast for the year which takes due account of real-life changes that have taken place since the budget was set.
The headings where a significant variation from budget is forecast are:
- Salaries – an overspend of £13,400 is forecast. This arises from the inflation that has kicked in since the budget was set. The forecast is based on the pay offer that has been accepted by Unison members but has not yet been formally agreed;
- Rent – Memorial Park – at budget time it was expected that an agreement would have been in place for leasing the Community Centre but this has not yet happened and is not imminent. The income that was budgeted at £2,600 is now forecast to be nil;
- Income from burial fees – this has been greater than expected and the forecast is that it will be £12,000 higher than budgeted. This is partly explained by some double fees being paid for burial of non-Stourport residents;
- Allotments – miscellaneous – spending has been £2,420 to the halfway stage and the forecast is £3,500 – this relates to an issue that members know of and can be further explained at your meeting;
- Non-recurring expenditure – at the June meeting Finance Committee approved spending of nearly £4,000 on new gates for Kingsway allotments. These are now in place. As this had not been in the original budget this now represents a variation from budget.
At this stage, net spending is forecast to be nearly £347,000 compared with a budget of £328,000. So an overall overspend of around £19,000 is forecast but much can change in the second half of the year. The Council holds balances of £127,000 which can meet an overspend of this size. The position will be reviewed in February. Clearly the greater-than-expected inflation this year will have full-year impact in 2023/24 meaning a significant precept increase may be unavoidable.
The Committee is invited to comment on any of these points and/or raise any queries.
Graham Shaw
25th October 2022