Council Meeting 13 January 2022
Budget and Precept 2022/23

The Budget
1 In the autumn cycle of meetings, the committees considered their budget
requests for 2022/23. The direction to committees from the Chairman of
the Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee was to endeavour to produce
budgets which would enable the Council to contain its requirements to a
total Council budget which would allow a precept to be requested which
generated a 0% increase in council tax for the second year and without
reliance on reserves. Increases for inflation (where appropriate) should be
calculated at 4%.
2 The Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee met on 2 December 2021 to
review the submissions and the documents attached to this report are the
Committee’s recommendations to Council for the Council’s 2022/23
budget.
3 Roads, Footpaths and Flatford Committee (General) – This budget
shows a decrease from 2021/22 of £3950 which is the result of the
Committee giving careful consideration to budget heads which had drifted
upwards over the years but had not been utilised fully. The most prominent
example of this is the external litter picking where £2500 has been saved
without any diminution in the service level. Other somewhat historic budget
heads have been deleted where they are no longer appropriate. The only
increase sought is in respect of benches where the modest budget has
been doubled to £500.
4 Roads, Footpaths and Flatford Committee (Car Park and Toilets) –
2021/22 was a most unusual and exceptional year for this Committee due
to the substantial works undertaken in the car park and the legal issues
surrounding the lease. To accommodate the works the Committee was
granted a supplementary estimate of £85,000 which boosted the budget
from £21,500 to £106,500. For 2022/23 this extra money is not required so
whilst the budget shows a saving of £90,600 this is merely the removal of
the supplementary estimate and the car park improvement budget neither
of which are necessary following completion of the works. An additional
sum of £1400 has been added to the landscaping project budget head
following the withdrawal of volunteers and the need to engage a
contractor. In reality the budget saving from 2021/22 is £5,600 which
includes the removal of the business rates budget head of £2,000 which is
unnecessary due to full rate relief being obtained.
5 Playing Fields Committee – Over the past two years this Committee has
undertaken large and very successful projects. All those projects have now
been completed and the pro-active Committee has assigned the budgets
to new projects for 2022/23. It has also established that the budgets for

grounds maintenance and the grounds maintenance contractor exceed
requirements and has achieved a saving of £4263. Overall the budget is
£795 less than in 2021/22.
6 Burial Grounds Committee – The Committee has had an active year in
maintenance and tree works and has undertaken the cleaning of the War
Memorial, the cost of which was mitigated by a generous contribution from
the District Councillor’s locality budget. The budget heads have been
scrutinised by the Committee and a number of housekeeping economies
have been achieved for 2022/23. As always, the determining factor in
whether or not the budget ends up in surplus or deficit is the amount of
income received from cemetery fees. Over the last two years the income
has exceeded the sum put in the budget. This has resulted in quite
significant underspends. For 2022/23 the Committee has raised the level
of income taken into account in the budget and the budget proposed of
only £7906 achieves a saving from 2021/22 of £3158.93.
7 East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan Committee – In 2020/21 and in the
first half of 2021/22 the generous budgets for the review and for projects
were not utilised fully due to the pandemic. New studies, surveys and
initiatives are planned for 2022/23 and the Committee seeks the same
budgetary provision as in the current year.
8 Strategy Policy and Finance Committee (Grants) – Since the law
regarding grant aid has required recipients to ask for assistance rather
than just being awarded assistance on a regular basis, the amount of grant
aid awarded has diminished due to lack of applications. The Committee
considers that this trend is likely to continue and in consequence it cannot
justify a budget head at the current level of £13,260 and instead seeks
£8,000 a saving of £5,260. In the event of demand exceeding budgetary
provision the Committee will seek a supplementary estimate from
reserves.
9 Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee (General) – This is the
Council’s organisational budget for corporate costs which are not specific
to any other particular service committee. The payments are largely similar
from year to year with the addition of inflation and not many can be
avoided. Thus, with some fine tuning the budget is stable and for 2022/23
a decrease of £100 is proposed. One change which has been made by the
Committee is in respect of the set-off of VAT paid in the current year as
against the refund from the previous year but received at the beginning of
the following year. The Committee considered that this distorted the
figures in the current year when a large amount of VAT has been paid on
car park works, and in 2022/23 when that large sum will be refunded. The
Committee will continue to have oversight of the VAT paid and refunded,
but will separate it from the budget.
10 All Committees – The total budget requested by the committees is
£158,052.50. This is a saving on 2021/22 of £18,864.43 (excluding the
supplementary estimate) which has been achieved from a closer scrutiny

of budget heads, the trimming of surplus provision and more specific
assessment of need. There is no diminution of the levels of service
provided by the committees. The Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee
RECOMMENDS to the Council the committee budgets set out in the
attached spreadsheets and a total council budget for 2022/23 of
£158,052.50.
The Precept
11 In 2021/22, the Council wished to set a 0% increase in Council Tax for
Band D Council Tax payers of East Bergholt. Accordingly it set the precept
at £157,979. For 2022/23 the tax base has increased slightly so a 0%
increase in Council Tax for Band D Council Tax payers would result in a
precept of £159,450. The proposed budget is slightly less than that sum
and to seek a precept of £158,052 would represent a 0.88% decrease in
the Council Tax requirement and save Band D Council tax payers £1.24
per annum. The Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee RECOMMENDS
to the Council a precept for 2022/23 of £158,052
Employees’ remuneration
12 Earlier in the financial year it was established that the SALC payroll service
would only add the national pay award and any incremental advance to
employees’ remuneration if there was a specific Council resolution to that
effect. The Strategy, Policy and Final Committee resolved that such a
resolution should be made annually at the time of the Budget and Precept
determination.
Recommendation
13 It is RECOMMENDED that:
(i) the Budget for 2022/23 in the sum of £158,052.50 be approved.
(ii) the Precept for 2022/23 in the sum of £158,052 be approved.
(iii) For 2022/23 the Council’s employees be awarded the national pay
award and any incremental advance which may be appropriate to their
grading.

Graham White
Parish Clerk
6 January 2022