PAPER B

Committee :    ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORT SELECT COMMITTEE

Date :              29 JULY 2002

Title :              BUDGET MONITORING REPORT AS AT END OF JUNE 2002

REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR FOR FINANCE AND INFORMATION AND COUNTY TREASURER

SUMMARY/PURPOSE

This report sets out the budget and spending position on both revenue and capital for the services within this Committee’s remit, as at the end of June. The figures do not include budgets that are controlled elsewhere than the service concerned. These are monitored by the Committee which bears responsibility for the item concerned. (For example, Resources Select Committee monitors the building maintenance budget centrally, and building maintenance costs are not therefore shown against individual services below).

REVENUE EXPENDITURE

The report details gross expenditure, income and net expenditure to date against budget as shown at appendix 1. The expenditure and income has been classified over thirteen distinct categories, each of which may have different spending or income generation characteristics. For example, the waste management budget has expenditure which accrues fairly evenly through the year, with increased contract payments from November, the anniversary of commencement of the contract. By contrast, the county transport and management and supervision budgets also have expenditure which accrues fairly evenly through the year, but in addition have a considerable requirement for recharges to service budgets and capital budgets which tend to take place in arrears of the expenditure; whereas the car parking budget has significant income, an element of which is seasonal.

At this stage of the financial year there are few significant variances to report. Members are aware already, from a previous budget monitoring report for the period to the end of May that, as part of the closedown process, an overspend of some £373,500 has been identified in the highway maintenance budget. In normal circumstances, such an overspend would have to be carried forward and offset against the current year’s highway maintenance budget. However, the report to the Executive on the provisional accounts for 2001-02 suggests that in view of the high public priority of the service, coupled with the Council’s efforts to produce a step improvement in this area, it may be prudent on this occasion to write the overspend off within the context of significant corporate savings overall.

One other point requiring mention is the emergency works presently being undertaken at Coppin’s Bridge to the bridge structure. The cost of the emergency works already undertaken, plus any further remedial works which prove to be necessary, will have to be assessed and a decision made in due course as to whether they are capital or revenue in nature. In either case there will be an impact on existing budgets. That point is noted in the Revenue Expenditure Table attached as Appendix 1, together with a number of other comments on the services within this Committee’s terms of reference.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

Expenditure against each scheme is shown at Appendix 2.

The budgets shown are now those approved for the current financial year, described as 2002-2003 schemes, and those slipped from the previous year, described as 2001-2002 slippage. The current years budget forms a part of the single capital pot, for which expenditure must be completed by 31 March 2003. Last year’s capital settlement was in the form of 2 year supplementary credit approval for which expenditure also has to be completed by 31 March 2003. The total budget for the year is in excess of £11.5 million, of which £1.7 million has already been spent and nearly £2.3 million committed. However, within the total budget figure there is some £1.9 million for the Military Road project, on which negotiations are still being progressed with prospective contractors. The budget for the project has been in place for some years now and there is flexibility to carry it forward once again, should that prove to be necessary. There are also over-allocations of budget on the Newport to Ryde strategic corridor and included in slippage brought forward from the previous year, which will both need to be managed within the total resources available. This is in accordance with the resolution of the Executive on 26 February 2002 which delegated responsibility for delivery of the full programme to the Portfolio Holder for Transport and the Head of Service, within the broad themes identified and the available finance.

Contact Point : Stuart Fraser, ☎  823657

                                                                             JOHN PULSFORD

                                                                              Strategic Director

                                                                         Finance and Information

APPENDIX 2