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First Quarter Budget Monitoring 2019/20
Strategic Planning & Infrastructure Committee
10 September 2019
Lead Officer:  Mark Green
Report Authors: Chris Hartgrove/Paul Holland

 


Contents

Executive Summary…………………………………….2

Revenue Spending………………………………………3

Significant Variances…………………………………..7

Capital Spending…………………………………….….9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Executive Summary

This report provides an overview of performance against revenue and capital budgets for Quarter 1 and a forecast outturn for 2019/20 for the services within the SPI Committee’s remit.

Robust budget monitoring is a key part of effective internal financial control, and therefore is one of the elements underpinning good corporate governance. 

The aim of reporting financial information to service committees at quarterly intervals is to ensure that underlying trends can be identified at an early stage, and action taken, to combat adverse developments or seize opportunities.

It is advisable for financial reports to be considered in conjunction with quarterly performance monitoring reports, as this may provide the context for variances identified with the budget and general progress towards delivery of the Council’s strategic priorities.

Headline messages for Quarter 1 are as follows:

§   For this Committee, there is an over spend against the Revenue budget of £0.108m at the Quarter 1 stage, which is expected to increase to an over spend of £0.459m by the end of the financial year. This is due to receipts from Planning Applications and Parking charges being substantially lower than forecast                                                              

§  The existing over spend is comprised of an over spend within Parking Services of £58,000 and an over spend of £50,000 on Planning Services.

 

§  The position for the Council as a whole at the end of Quarter 1 is an under spend against Revenue budgets of £0.346m, and at this stage we expect to remain within budget for the year.

 

§  Capital expenditure of £5,319 has been incurred in Quarter 1 for the projects within this Committee’s remit.  Total budget for the year is £1.661m.

 

§  For the Council as a whole, Capital expenditure of £1.424m has been incurred during Quarter 1. Total budget for the year is £51.754m.

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue Budget
1st Quarter 2019/20
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Revenue Spending

At the end of Quarter 1, there is an overall adverse variance of £0.108m against the revenue budget for this Committee.  Based on current information, we are forecasting that this will increase to an over spend of £0.459m by the end of the year.

The charts below show the income and expenditure position for each of the service committees. 

Chart 1 Performance against budget analysed by service committee (Expenditure)

Chart 2 Performance against budget analysed by service committee (Income)

 

 

 

The table on the following page details the budget and expenditure position for this Committee’s services during Quarter 1.  These figures represent the net budget for each cost centre. The actual position includes expenditure for goods and services which we have received but not yet paid for.  

The table columns show the following detail:

a)   The cost centre description;

b)   The value of the total budget for the year;

c)   The amount of the budget expected to be spent by the end of June 2019;

d)   The actual spend to that date;

e)   The variance between expected and actual spend;

f)   The forecast spend to year end; and

g)   The expected significant variances at 31 March 2020.

The table shows that of a net annual expenditure budget of -£1.253m for Quarter 1, it was expected that                                    -£80,000 would be spent up until the end of June 2019. At this point in time the budget is reporting an over spend of £0.108m, although the current forecast indicates that the year-end position for the Committee will increase to an over spend of £0.459m.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue Budget Summary Q1 2019/20

Table 1 Revenue Budget Position, Q1 2019/20 – Strategic Planning & Infrastructure Committee

 

 

Significant Variances

Within these headline figures, there are a number of adverse and favourable variances for individual service areas.  Attention is drawn to the most significant variances, i.e. those exceeding £30,000 or expected to do so by the end of the year.  The table below provides further detail regarding these variances, and the actions being taken to address them.

It is important that the potential implications of variances are considered at this stage, so that contingency plans can be put in place and if necessary, this can be used to inform future financial planning.

 

Positive Variance

Q1

Adverse

Variance

Q1

Year End Forecast Variance

Strategic Planning & Infrastructure Committee

£000

PLANNING SERVICES

 

 

 

Development Control Majors & Other – This year has seen a significant drop in income from Planning Applications compared to original budget expectations. This is particularly the case for Major Applications.

 

Planning officers are now working in partnership with the Finance team in analysing Planning Applications patterns, and future expectations in particular, for both the remainder of 2019/20 and beyond (2020/21 to 2022/23). This will enable the production of more accurate revised estimates for this financial year and a robust updated Medium-Term Financial Plan for the purposes of future financial planning and budget setting.

 

 

-58

-351

Mid-Kent Planning Support - The current variance has arisen due to a number of posts that are being held vacant.

 

33

 

108

PARKING SERVICES

 

 

 

Pay & Display Car Parks – The adverse variance is entirely due underachieved income. Pay and Display income levels are on a par with last year for most car parks however the closure of Brunswick Street and the loss of spaces from Union Street have impacted on income levels. The situation is exacerbated by an assumed increase of £50,000 in income from Pay & Display Car Parks in the budget for 2019/20 (based on volumes; there were no fee increases this year).

 

 

-78

-180

Park & Ride - The adverse variance is due to underachieved income. As the service has now been outsourced the variance is not expected to worsen during the remainder of the year.

 

 

-34

-38

 

Table 2 Significant Variances – Strategic Planning & Infrastructure Committee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capital Budget
1st Quarter 2019/20
 

 

 

 

 


 


Capital Spending

 

The five-year Capital Programme for 2019/20 onwards was approved by Council on 27th February 2019.  Funding for the Programme remains consistent with previous Council decisions in that the majority of capital resources will now come from prudential borrowing as other sources of funding are not sufficient to cover the costs of the programme, although funding does continue to be available from New Homes Bonus. At the time of preparing this report, there has been no need to borrow, but it is still anticipated that borrowing will be needed later in 2019/20.

Progress made towards the delivery of planned projects for 2019/20 is set out in the table below.  The budget figure is the approved estimate for 2019/20 and includes resources which have been brought forward from 2018/19 that have been added to the agreed budget for the current year.

To date, expenditure of £5,319 has been incurred against a budget of £1.661m.  At this stage, it is anticipated that there will be slippage of £1.336m, although this position will be reviewed at the end of the year when the Committee will be asked to approve/note the carry forward of resources into the next financial year.

Capital Budget Summary Q1 2019/20

Table 3 Capital Expenditure, Strategic Planning & Infrastructure Committee Q1 2019/20

§  The Bus Station redevelopment project is progressing, but at this stage it is anticipated that the construction phase will not commence until Spring 2020, so £1.336m of the current budget will need to be carried forward.