Agenda item

The Head of Finance (ECS & Corporate Services) attended the meeting to brief the Committee.

He explained that the report looked at the regular budget for ‘business as usual’ spending. The impact of Covid 19 was being dealt with separately by the Executive. This included the impact on costs, and loss of income across the board including general grant income. This meant that although the budget report was showing an underspend of £482k, (because the financial implications of Covid 19 had not been factored in), the overall financial position was not as good as it first seemed.

The Vice Chairman referred to the reasons for variations in waste services costs that were outlined in Appendix 1B--he asked what the £255k costs related to, and why they were being carried forward. As this was a matter that related to an invoicing dispute, it was agreed that the details concerning this would be emailed to the Vice Chairman and Committee members post meeting.

The Vice Chairman was glad to see that savings had been accrued during the period of the pandemic with respect to credit cards. He was surprised to note the amount of money that was usually spent via credit cards, and hoped that savings could be continued going forward, with the savings directed to other services. He wondered where the costs were originating from and why the costs were so high. He asked if it would be possible to use credit cards that took less commission. The Head of Finance agreed to look into the matter further and to provide more detail to the Vice Chairman post meeting. It was noted that when members of the public paid for parking costs using a credit card, the Council had to pay a fee for the credit card transaction. Resultantly, as less people were coming out and parking, these costs had diminished.

Members noted that the costs with respect to waste collection had increased, as at the moment more waste was being collected and disposed of. Increased costs were not related to increased collections directly, but were related to increased disposal costs. 

A Member enquired about the budget for Arboricultural Services, and the increased costs that had been accrued in recovering from a backlog of work. He wondered when the backlog would be resolved and the Director of Environment and Public Protection stated that this was being looked at, and that it was hoped to resolve any issues with the service in the current financial year. 

A Member enquired why the length of time needed to retain the services of the ‘Fix My Street’ officer had been extended at the cost of £35k and asked why this was necessary. The Director of Environment and Public Protection responded that ‘Fix My Street’ was one of the main reporting tools for the Council in respect of reporting faults and logging complaints. It had been continually developed and was ongoingly still being developed to extend the number of categories that could be incorporated into the system. It was hoped that the website could be improved in such a way that it would become the single point of contact for the public and Members for the reporting of a variety of issues. This would include the current issues that could already be reported, in addition to other matters such as missed bin collections, and issues relating to the arboricultural service. The Director felt that investment in this service now, would pay dividends in the long term, and it would provide a clearer route into the Council and provide more data to be interrogated; this would mean that the Council would be better informed with respect to a variety of issues.

A Member commented that the ‘Fix My Street’ service was very good, but the name was not appropriate and should be changed to something more welcoming and less aggressive. The Director explained that the Council had bought into a national service, and so they were likely to have to continue with the name for some time to come. 

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Community Services endorse the latest 2020/21 revenue budget monitoring for the Environment & Community Services Portfolio.