HOWDEN TOWN COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of Resources and Asset Management Committee held on Thursday 12 January at 7:15 pm in the Council meeting room, 17 Bridgegate, Howden
Present: Councillors R Blee (Chair), C Burton, A Martinson, D Patrick, H Pears, H Roberts, A Shone, E Ward
Clerk: Allison Milner
Min 231 Declaration of interest
231.1 Cllrs A Martinson and E Ward declared non pecuniary interests in Agenda item 7.2 – Grant Applications, in view of their membership of the Ashes Trust.
231.2 Cllrs A Shone and E Ward declared non pecuniary interests in Agenda item 7.2 – Grant Applications, in view of their membership of the Shire Hall Trust.
No dispensations were requested/granted.
Min 232 Minutes of the last meeting
The minutes of the meeting of 9 August 2016 were agreed as a true record and approved.
Min 233 Review of the Health and Safety Policy
The annual review of the Health and Safety Policy had been reviewed by the Committee with no changes required at this time. The policy is to continue to be reviewed annually.
Min 234 Interim Internal Audit Report
The annual interim internal audit had recently taken place and a report was received from Alan Johnson, CPFA, the internal auditor. He reported that he was satisfied that the records continued to be well maintained and were free from material error, and that there were no matters of significant concern to be drawn to the Council’s attention.
Min 235 Financial Review.
The Clerk presented the Financial review from 1 April 2016 to 31 December 2016. Please see attachment.
235.1 Building Running Costs:- A report was received on payments and receipts to date, and projected to the end of this financial year. It was noted that total running costs projected to year end were £5,055. Projected receipts for the year, based on office rent and room hire, totalled £4,284. Once the income is offset against the expenditure, the cost of running the building would be £771 this year. Councillors noted that the estimated running costs for the following four months could only be approximate and would depend on winter weather.
235.2 Invitations had been sent out in mid-October to interested parties wishing to apply for a grant for the 2017/18 financial year. The invitation had asked applicants for a report of how previous grants from the Town Council had been spent, and for details of what was being sought this time. It was emphasized that preferential support would be given to organisations providing services across the community, and priority would be given where:
· the funds would be project-based, as opposed to being put into reserves;
· there is evidence of active fund-raising from other sources;
· optimal use is being made of existing resources, including ‘in-kind’ and voluntary help.
After consideration of the grant applications the Committee agreed to recommend the following:
235.3 Howden Minster PCC: application for £600 towards the cost of floodlighting the tower – request was for the same sum as in previous years. £600 agreed.
235.2 Howden Show: application for £748 to support a marquee to provide a space for “community and local groups”. £748 agreed.
235.3 Howden Pre-School: application for £539.34 to enable the children to visit a number of local amenities/businesses and use these visits to secure and further develop the children’s learning. Trips out of Pre-School require additional staffing and using parent helpers to ensure safety and facilitate learning. £539.34 agreed.
235.4 Civic Society: application for £1,650, to help fund the “Collection of Oral History Project” aimed to collect memories of local residents and businesses that relate to life in and around Howden. It was agreed to grant the full amount of £1,650, but ask the Civic Society what would happen to the information should a Heritage Centre not be available. It was suggested that the information could be put on the Your Howden website for all to access anyway.
235.5 Yorkshire Air Ambulance: application for £1,500, to go towards helicopter fuel. The Committee expressed concern that Howden was a very small area in the DN14 area that the YAS quoted for. The Clerk was to ask them if they had approached other areas in the DN14 area. It was felt that Howden should not subsidize other Towns of similar or larger size. It was agreed that Howden would fund a proportion of the requested grant to an amount of no more than £500.
235.6 Ashes: application for £30,000 for running costs (General Maintenance £25000, Paths £1000, Trees £1000, Main Equipment replacement fund £3000). The Clerk questioned whether this amount was necessary in view of the upsurge in fund raising and grants from other sources. It was explained that running costs were increasing and fund raising events did not bring in the significant sums required. After discussion, the full amount was agreed.
235.7 Shire Hall: application for £20,404 for the refurbishment of the library area and the employment of part time administrator. The full amount was agreed.
Min 236 Precept 2017/18
236.1 The Chair reported that the new tax base for Howden for 2017/18 was 1515.60, 29 higher than for 2016/17.
236.2 The Committee reviewed the draft budget at length. It was agreed to supplement the costs for the forthcoming financial year with sums from the uncommitted reserves. These have been put aside as earmarked reserves – some of which will be spent during the next financial year. These are namely Promoting Howden, Derwent Park, Marsh, Building Repairs (17 Bridgegate) and Christmas Lights. In addition to this, a sum of £4,658 was taken off the predicted current year underspend to also offset against the budget. This was to prevent putting the precept up more than 2%.
Please see attached budget sheet for breakdown.
The Committee agreed to recommend to the Full Council that the precept demand for 2017/18 be £152,000.00. This would result in a Band D council tax requirement for Howden in 2017/18 of £100.29, an increase of £1.89 or 1.93% on that for 2016/17
Min 237 Date of next meeting
The next meeting will be held on 28 March 2017.
The meeting closed at 8:55 pm.