2.  To assist Members in their deliberations the following draft documents are attached:-

Appendix A:  This shows the progress made on new expenditure items approved for inclusion in the 2007/08 budget. (PDF)

Appendix B:  This document contains new bids for 2008/09 for functions of this Committee. It includes items suggested by Councillors and external organisations.(PDF)

Appendix C:  This document shows the approved original budget 2007/2008, (£151,250), the draft revised budget 2007/08, (£136,020), which reflects the forecast outturn for 2007/08, and the draft base budget for 2008/09 (£128,380).  The base budget for 2008/09 has been adjusted for non-recurring items included in the original budget 2007/08, but does not include any new bids, which are listed separately in Appendix B. If all the proposed bids are approved, the draft budget will be £180,780, an increase of £29,530 compared with the original budget for 2007/08.

Separate budgets are included for Holding Accounts, which are shown on page 1. These cover the costs of employment for office staff and ground staff. Members should note that some of the proposed increase in these costs, e.g. employer’s pension contribution, are a direct result of other bodies, over which the Town Council has no control. All of these costs are re-charged to the Council’s main areas of activities, e.g. cemetery, allotments, open spaces, and appear in the Committee’s budgets as “Allocated Office Staff” and “Allocated Ground Staff”.

Interest rates have increased  during 2007. This together, with prudent cash-flow monitoring has enabled an additional £1,000 income from interest earnings to be included in the draft 2008/09 revenue budget.

Pages 2 – 4 show the detailed budgets and page 5 shows the draft capital expenditure budget.

3. The Committee is also invited to rank the proposals in Appendix B. This will ensure that if, for budget reasons, some schemes cannot proceed, the priority order for expenditure has already been determined.

4. The Committee is asked to approve the proposals shown in Appendix B and the draft base budget for 2008/09 shown in Appendix C so that they can be considered as part of the Council’s overall budget, a report for which appears elsewhere on the agenda.  Further assessments may be made on some items included in each of the Appendices and any further changes believed necessary will be reported at the meeting.

5. It is recommended that:

(a) the proposals in Appendix B, as may be amended at the meeting, be approved for consideration as part of the Council’s overall budget;

(b) the proposals in Appendix B be ranked in order of priority, and

(c) the draft base budget for 2008/09 in Appendix C be approved.

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