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The report of the Director of Finance and
Transformation presented Members with the current financial
position to the end of July 2024 for the 2024/25 Financial Year, in
accordance with the Borough Council’s Financial Procedure
Rules.
 
Since a revenue budget of £11,671,480
was set by the Council in February 2024, a number of Cabinet and
committee decisions had been taken (as set out in Annex 1) with a
net impact of a slight reduction of £3,192 on the revenue
budget.
 
Budgetary Control Monitoring Statements for
Salaries and Incomes to the end of July 2024 were attached for
information at Annexes 2 and 3 respectively, which reflected an
underspend of £69,750 against the current salary estimates
proportioned to the end of July 2024 and an actual which was
£26,345 less than the apportioned income estimate for the
same period.
 
With regard to investment income, both Core
and Cashflow funds were shown above the proportion of the original
estimates due to continued high base rates which, however, were not
anticipated to continue in the long term.
 
Areas identified as variations to the original
estimate as of the end of May 2024 included service fee to the
Tonbridge and Malling Leisure Trust, which was below the estimate
thanks to the energy efficiency measures and savings, and
expenditure on temporary accommodation, which was an overspend
above the estimate due to higher than expected level of clients and
increasing accommodation costs.
 
Furthermore, capital expenditure to the end of
July 2024 was detailed in Annex 4.
 
With regard to the savings target as
identified in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, Members
acknowledged that challenge was still ahead in identifying options
to close the overall funding gap of £1.7m despite that the
first tranche target of £305,000 to be achieved by April 2025
had already been exceeded.  It was
therefore suggested that options be invited from members of the
three Scrutiny Select Committees and the Overview and Scrutiny
Committee for evaluation, and this was supported by the
Cabinet.
 
RESOLVED: 
That
 

(1)         
as at the end of July 2024, a net favourable variance of circa
£291,000 when compared to the proportion of the 2024/25
budget as shown in paragraph 1.6.1 be noted;
 

(2)         
the potential issues surrounding the impact of the current client
levels, cost of temporary accommodation and debt recovery within
the revenue budget for Homelessness Accommodation be noted;
 

(3)         
the current business rate pool position, as at the end of July 2024
as set out in paragraph 1.7.2, be noted;
 

(4)         
the current spend on Capital Projects for 2024/25 be noted;
 

(5)         
the current position of the Savings Target be noted; and
 

(6)         
Members of the three Scrutiny Select Committees and the Overview
and Scrutiny Committee be invited to propose options for evaluation
in the forthcoming months to assist in bridging the current funding
gap.