Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 13 November 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 November 2018 were agreed by Members present and signed by the Chair.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Sally Marshall.

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)            may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct for Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

There were no declarations of interest.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements and ask questions in accordance with the rules as to Public Participation.

There was no public participation

There were no referrals to Cabinet

There were no referrals to Cabinet.

Decision

That Cabinet considers and agrees the half-year report on targets and performance, in Sections 4-7 of the report.

Corporate objectives

Dacorum Delivers – Optimising investment income for General Fund and Housing Revenue budgets whilst managing investment risk is fundamental to achieving the corporate objective of delivering an efficient and modern Council.

Monitoring Officer/S.151 Officer comments

Monitoring Officer:  

No comments to add to the report.

Deputy S.151 Officer

This is a Section 151 Officer Report.

Advice

Cllr Elliot introduced the report, noting the following headlines;

·         Investment performance is strong and exceeding target benefiting from increase in interest rate.

·         Level of balances have gone up as the Council continues to invest.

·         Slight slip in some projects, such as multi story car park. 

·         Increased receipts for garage sales.

FJump added that the average rate of return for first 6 months is 0.6% which she commented is reasonable given historically low interest rates.

Cllr Birnie referred to page 15 of the report, specifically item 7.3 and the items in the table - Capital Grants and s.106 and asked; what source are the grants from?

FJump confirmed they are from variety of sources, including disabled facilities grant as an example, confirming she could circulate full breakdown if required

Cllr Birnie referred to item immediately under that; capital receipts and reserves and asked; how much of that is from reserves?  Commenting that it is quite a significant amount.

Cllr Harden asked; is that the breakdown list we already have? 

JDeane advised that the reserves Cllr Harden was referring to are General Fund Revenue Reserves and that they are not what’s funding capital expenditure. Rather, the capital reserves Cllr Birnie asked about are almost entirely within the HRA, and largely refer to capital expenditure from the Major Repairs Reserve

Cllr Birnie referred to borrowing in item 6.8 and asked; can it be assumed that is borrowing from statutory bodies? 

FJump confirmed yes; existing borrowing from statutory bodies.

Cllr Birnie expressed concern with appendix and the £8m in investments with other Councils, asking; In view of problems some Councils are having with their budgets and ability to remain stable, are there plans to roll those over or are we going to go for safer things like banks?

Cllr Elliot responded that Local Councils are likely sounder in a financial crisis than banks; they are underwritten by government so it is not likely for them to be reneged on.

FJump added that the Council use a credit rating to give extra assurance before lending.

Cllr Collins referred to Appendix 1, commenting that the rates of interest do not seem particularly good and asked if there is a way to get better rates (such as retail rates)?

JDeane confirmed there is, but it is dependent on where you put your safety net adding that as a Council we have to look at how safe an investment will be with an organisation; we use the best available investment opportunities that we have and that is how we get it back.  ...  view the full minutes text for item CA/126/18

Report to follow.

Please note; the information for the report is taken as at 30 November and then worked on firstly by Revenues and then Finance.  The report will be circulated as a supplment to the agenda prior to the meeting.

Decision

1.    That Cabinet approves the Collection Fund surplus estimate of £642,933.54 as at 31 March 2019.

2.    That Cabinet approves the calculation of the Council’s tax base for the year 2019/20 incorporating an estimated collection rate of 99.4%.

3.   

Corporate objectives

Agreement of the Council Tax Base 2019/20 and the Council Tax surplus estimate as at 31 March 2019 supports sound financial planning and achievement of the corporate objective of delivering an efficient and modern Council.

Monitoring Officer/S.151 Officer comments

Monitoring Officer:  

No comments to add to the report.

Deputy S.151 Officer

This is a Section 151 Officer Report.

Advice

Cllr Elliot introduced the report and advised its purpose is to agree the Council Tax forecast surplus for 31^st March 2019. 

Recommendations agreed.

Voting

None.

Decision

That Cabinet recommends Council approve the Meeting Timetable for 2019/20 as set out in Appendix A to this report.

Corporate objectives

The various meetings of the Council, Cabinet and Committees support the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Objectives.

Monitoring Officer/S.151 Officer comments

Monitoring Officer:  

No comments to add to the report.

Deputy S.151 Officer

No further comments to add to the report.

Advice

Cllr Collins introduced the timetable and invited questions; there were none.

Recommendation agreed.

Voting

None.

Cllr Sutton referred to Item 8 - update on HLF bid for The Bury and advised this is in the plan as a holding position; waiting for response from HLF which is expected before Christmas and noted that should that be delayed in any way may the item may have to be put back.

Cllr Douris noted some typos; Items 6 & 7 showing deadlines of 2018, should be showing 2019.

Cllr Harden requested an item be added to February; Senior Officers Pay 19/20