Council Meeting
10 October 2024
BUDGET MONITOR 202 4/25 Q2

1. All Committees
The Council’s budget for 2024/25 is £206,048.50 of which £148,000 is funded
by the Precept. The remainder will be taken from reserves. At the end of Q2
the Council had spent £68,586.15 (33.3%) of its budget for 2024/25.

2. Burial Grounds
Following the theft of maintenance equipment in March 2024, the new sit-on
mower, the cost of which was offset by the insurance settlement, was
purchased in Q1 and charged to contingencies. The remaining equipment
was purchased in Q2 at a cost of £1,645. Although there was no specific
budget head for this eventuality, the cost was spread across other budget
heads at no detriment to the committee’s budget.

At the end of Q2 the committee has spent £4,868.49 (45.7%) of its budget.
Cemetery fees received are on target to meet the budget assumption of
£10,000.

3. EBNP (Review)
In this quarter the only expenditure has been for an annual subscription for
mapping software and at the half year, expenditure has been £3,620 (12.9%)
of budget. Consultants’ fees are expected in Q3.

4. Playing Fields
Q2 expenditure has been concentrated on routine maintenance matters,
primarily grounds maintenance and also machinery and play equipment. Total
expenditure at the end of Q2 was £4,969.57 (12.7%) of budget. It should be
noted however that the major pavilion project (£11,000) has not yet been
undertaken.

5. RFF (General)
Only the litter picker’s salary has been paid this quarter. A change in the
employee’s tax code has meant that the cost to this committee has reduced
whereas the cost to SPF, which pays income tax to HMRC, has increased.

At the half year the committee had spent £5,453.19 (34.8%) of budget which
comprises the litter picker’s salary and the annual dog and litter bin emptying
charge.

6. RFF (Car Park and toilets)
Routine maintenance and cleaning has been the main expenditure in Q2.

In the continuing dispute with the landlord of the car park, the latter has not
accepted rent under the lease in either 2023/24 or 2024/25 and following
advice from the Council’s solicitor the two years’ rent has been placed on
deposit with the solicitors and is available to the landlord at any time.

At the end of Q2 the committee had spent £5,939.55 (39.8%) of its budget.

7. SPF (General)
Most of the committee’s expenditure is regular or expected payments and in
Q2, £12,295.76 (19.8%) of the budget was spent. Overall, at the end of Q2,
30,517.79 (49.1%) of the budget had been expended and the committee is on
target to break even at the year end.

Bank interest has exceeded the assumed £2,000 by £1201 at the end of Q2
and is likely to be much greater in the second half of the year when annual
interest on Building Society accounts is received.

Contingencies have exceeded their budget of £5,000 by some £3,000 at the
end of Q2 which can be wholly attributed to the cost of the new sit-on mower
which exceeded the insurance settlement.

It is possible that the excess interest receipts will balance out the excess
contingencies expenditure by the year end and keep the committee within
budget overall.

8. SPF (Grants)
Expenditure in Q2 has amounted to £5,744 (£38.3% of budget) comprising
the balance of a grant to the football club for groundworks (carried over from
the last financial year), a grant to Barbizon and part of a grant to the Junior
football club. A further £1,000 is held as part of the latter and will be paid in
Q3.

Total expenditure at the end of Q2 amounts to £13,001 (86.7% of the budget)
and with the further committed payment, the budget will be close to
exhaustion. This is entirely due to the grant from last year which could have
been reserved as an accrual, but was overlooked at the time, and may require
the committee to seek a supplementary estimate (equivalent to that grant) to
tide it over for the remainder of the financial year.

9. Young People
The only expenditure this quarter has been on engaging Survey Monkey to
undertake a public survey. This cost £270.87 (1.4% of budget) so there

remains adequate funding for the engagement of contractors later in the
financial year.

10. Other income and expenditure
In this quarter the Council has received ‘other’ income which is outside the
budget of £85,192.80 comprising the half year precept (£74,000), the
cleansing grant for one entire financial year from Babergh (£5,948.80) and a
grant from Groundwork for the Neighbourhood Plan (£5948.80). The latter is
ring-fenced in reserves for use only for Neighbourhood Plan purposes.

The Council has made two payments from reserves, £13,734.79 in respect of
a bill for the landlord’s costs in respect of the s146 notice dispute relating to
the village centre car park and part payment of a CIL award for survey works
at Gandish Road playing field.

Total ‘other’ receipts at the end of Q2 totalled £608,715.01 and total ‘other’
expenditure from reserves, £32,323.39.

Graham White
Parish Clerk
3 October 2024