The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the report which set out the revenue and capital projected outturn position for 2021/22, based on service activity up to the end of September 2021 and collated from monitoring returns from budget managers.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance drew attention to the projected overspend of £359k as set out in Table 1 on page 61 of the report.  He referred to the £1.04m set aside for the Covid Recovery Fund, with a balance of £594k after funding the leisure centre schemes set out in paragraph 3.8 of the report.  He also drew attention to the £286k overspend in relation to bus companies’ compensation on page 73 of the report, which could reduce to £100k overspend which he considered to be encouraging.  The Council would receive an additional £198k of Government Covid funding for the loss of sales, fees and charges income.  It was hoped that the Council would not need to spend all the Covid-19 Pandemic funding.

The Chairman invited comments and questions on the main report.

A Member congratulated the finance team on 98.6% of invoices from suppliers being paid within 30 days of receipt.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and the Director of Resources responded as below:

Page 68

Customer Service Centre:  the underspend was due to vacancies within the team.

Page 71

Parking Partnership with Maidstone Borough Council – additional costs:  the re-charge from parking management was activity based and the shared cost had gone up and this was the estimate for the year.

Page 72

Shared Service costs – 2021/22 Budget reported service savings for the Air Quality Project Officer:  the £42k overspend was due to the post being removed from the current year’s budget and a crossover in staffing, the post was now vacant and the overspend would reduce.

Page 73

Salary underspend:  the intention was to fill the vacancies and the Council was actively pursuing this.  It was not considered good practice to offer supplementary payments to attract people to jobs.

Sittingbourne Town Centre – bus companies compensation:  this was due to the overall financial impact on the bus companies at both the hub and the High Street during the Spirit of Sittingbourne regeneration.

Page 75

Sittingbourne Christmas Lights: funding for this came from the Improvement & Resilience Fund and could not be broken down.

The Director of Resources agreed to send responses to all Members to the following:

Page 65

Coronation Clock Tower, Sheerness:  where was the £38k from Section 106 agreements from?

Murston Old Church: was the £20k funding part of the Communities Fund or was it additional funding?

Appendix I

Page 68

Democratic Services – Members Allowances & Travel:  more information requested on the £23k overspend.

Page 69

Appeal Costs – Additional costs – Litigation costs:  a request for a breakdown on the £233k overspend.

Page 71

Public Conveniences – net cost savings on premises expenses (including reduced business rates): what was the percentage of the business rate savings and how were the savings achieved?

Page 72

External legal fees: more information required on the overspend.

Page 79

Land regeneration/improvement works at Dolphin Barge Museum and Skatepark – Reserves: more information sought on what was being funded.

Page 82: 

Debts:  more information sought on the 2-6 months and the 6-12 months debt and more detail requested on the sundry debt outstanding in relation to Commissioning, Environment & Leisure.

The Chairman thanked the Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and the Director of Resources for attending the meeting for this item.

Resolved:

(1)      That the report be noted.

Post Meeting Note:  The responses to questions raised are attached as Appendix I to the minutes.