FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE
TO: MEMBERS OF THE FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE: Councillor Oakford (Chairman), Councillor Munn (Deputy Chairman) and Councillors Burbidge, Gell, Mrs Jedrzejewski, LeGrys, Lester, Mrs Prance and Ms Williams
Copies to: All other elected Members for information.
You are summoned to attend the FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE meeting on Thursday 23 October 2014 at 7.00 p.m. in the Council Offices, 137 London Road, Southborough, Kent TN4 0ND.
AGENDA
1. APOLOGIES AND REASON FOR ABSENCE
2. DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY AND OTHER SIGNIFICANT INTERESTS
Members who have a Disclosable Pecuniary or Other Significant Interest within the meaning of the Kent Code of Conduct 2012 in any matter appearing on the agenda, are invited to declare that interest at this stage and sign the register accordingly.
3. PUBLIC OPEN SESSION
Standing Order 60(a). Members of the public may speak under this item as long as 24 hours notice of their wish to do so has been given the Town Clerk, and that the subject is relevant to this Committee. No speech may be for longer than five minutes except by resolution of the Committee or Council.
4. MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS
The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 18 September 2014 were approved by Full Council on 25 September 2014.
5. ACCOUNTS
a) Outstanding cheques – A list of cheques requiring signature and payment will be tabled.
b) Financial Statements – Members to note income and expenditure for 1 September to 30 September 2014
c) Financial Summary – Members to note the summary from 1 April to 30 September 2014.
6. FINANCIAL MATTERS
a) Annual Return - Members to note the attached annual return signed off by the external auditor.
b) Instant Access Account – The Council currently has a savings account set up many years ago and which holds £72,000. The Clerk is unaware of what this was set aside for, but it earns very little interest at 0.05%. The Clerk has spoken with our Lloyds Business Manager and it was suggested that we could close this account and invest some or all of the money in a fixed rate deposit account, as per our other investments. Members to discuss the closure of this account and the investment of £50,000 of the funds to a 6 months fixed term deposit account.
c) Business Account – The Council has two other business accounts, these were set up many years ago. One is a current account where no interest is paid. Expenditure is paid from this account via cheques. The other is an instant access account, which offers 0.05% raising about £6.00 per month. The expenditure account is “swept overnight” and cleared of any income, which is moved into the instant access account leaving the current account with a nominal amount in it. This is now a very complicated method of holding bank accounts and gives two sets of statements, which have to be balanced. The Clerk has again spoken with the Lloyds Business Manager with a view to modernising the way in which we hold our funds. It has been suggested that all we need is a straightforward business bank account, which would work similar to a personal current account, and there is no charge for the account as we already hold one. The interest rate would be zero, so we would be losing out on around £6 per month. Members to discuss whether they would agree to closing the instant access account to leave the Town Council with one basic everyday current account and fixed rate deposit accounts as required.
d) Investment - The Town Council’s investment for 12 months of £50,000 with Lloyds Bank matured on 5 September 2014. As the funds were required to replenish our account following that spent on Holden Pond, there were no monies to re-invest at that time.
The investment for 6 months also with Lloyds of £200,000 matures on 23 October 2014. At the time of writing the agenda, we were holding a balance of £264,000 in the instant access account following receipt of the second instalment of the precept, and £72,000 in a savings account. A total of £536.000. The Clerk would therefore recommend that £100,000 be invested for 6 months and £150,000 for 12 months. Having compared four well-known banks, Members should note the following:-
NatWest currently have no fixed rate deposit accounts at all
HSBC has a fixed rate account called a Business High Interest Deposit Bond. The interest rate is 0.45% for 6 months and 0.55% for 12 months.
Lloyds have a 6 month Fixed Rate Deposit account at 0.80% and an interest of 1.1% for an investment of 12 months, both of these are for invited customers only, so there is no printed matter for it. Money to be deposited for the 12 months fixed rate deposit must be made by end of day, 31 October 2014.
Barclays have an Active Savers Account with an interest rate of 0.38%
Attached, Members will find the detail relating to the HSBC, and Barclays account. The Clerk would recommend that the funds be re-invested with Lloyds. Members to approve the amount and bank selected.
7. OTHER MATTERS
a) Twinning Matters – Please see the attached update from Bob Prance.
b) Cycle Working Group - Members to note the attached minutes from the meeting held on 17 September 2014.
c) Christmas Lights – Members to note the attached minutes of the meeting held on the 29 September 2014
8. CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS
It is proposed that during consideration of the following items of business the public and press would be temporarily excluded (Standing Order 76).
These items are considered confidential for the following reason(s)
Information relating to individuals.
a) Staff Wages – Details of the staff wages for September 2014 are attached. Members to note.
b) The Bungalow and Cemetery Cottage – Members will remember that the HMRC had claimed that the two properties were providing a benefit in kind to the tenants. The Clerk appealed this decision, and Members are asked to note the contents of the attached letter from the HMRC dated 7 October 2014.
These items are considered confidential for the following reason(s)
Information relating to the financial affairs of the Council.
c) Southborough Hub - The Chairman will give an update following the meeting held on 30 September 2014.
d) Relocation of Office Staff and Grounds Men – Members to discuss the staffing of for Grounds Maintenance and the relocation of the Office Staff and Grounds Men. Discussions took place at the Full Council meeting in respect of the possibility of temporarily moving the Council Offices and all staff and equipment to Pennington Grounds. This needs to be discussed further before beginning the work required to produce planning applications for change of use.
Brenda J Wickens
Town Clerk