Issue - meetings

The Charter Trustees are required to set the budget for 2025/26 and any subsequent precept for submission to BCP Council by 31 January 2025.

Matt Filmer, Responsible Financial Officer (RFO), introduced the report, highlighting that the Charter Trustees (CT) were required to set the budget for 2025/26 and any subsequent precept for submission to BCP Council by 31 January 2025.

The RFO highlighted:

-       An underspend of £18,389 for 2024/25, as BCP Council had now agreed to pay for King’s Counsel (KC) advice;

-       The in-year position had resulted in carrying forward reserves of £103,577;

-       A meeting of the Bournemouth Budget Workshop had been held, which had afforded Trustees the opportunity to review and shape the budget for 2025/26.

-       Budget lines removed included the Remembrance events and Civic awards, in line with the revised CT remit following acceptance of the KC advice;

-       The budget for hospitality had increased due to an expectation of increased regalia talks and other such events;

-       Overall staffing costs had reduced despite an increase in recharges for insurance, IT, accountancy, and internal audit services;

-       Draw-down of reserves was not being recommended;

-       The Council Tax base had grown following an increased number of Band D properties and introduction of the second home premium, allowing for the recommendation that the Band D precept to be reduced to £2.24 per annum.

It was recommended that the proposed budget for 2025/26 as set out in Appendix A be approved; and that the council tax requirement and precept of £151,713 be approved.

Some Trustees referred to the KC advice and suggested this should be shared with all Trustees. The Mayor reminded Trustees that this had been addressed at the previous meeting, as set out in the minutes of that meeting. Trustees were reminded that the advice had been shared with the CWG and that any Trustee was able to attend CWG/budget meetings upon request to the Chair.

The Honorary Clerk confirmed that no Trustees had approached to request sight of the advice, however, it was agreed that the feasibility of sharing the advice would be reviewed with the Council’s Monitoring Officer.

Trustees queried the proposed budget of £400 for communications, versus the £10,000 set out in the Poole CT budget. In response, the RFO confirmed that the increased budget line for Poole CT was following a direct request from the Poole CWG who wished to increase promotion of the CT. However, the £10,000 figure had not been based on anything specific and instead had been set to avoid having to use reserves throughout the year. It was confirmed that the Bournemouth Budget Working Group had not requested a similar increase, however, reserves were available to support promotion of the CT, should this be required. The Honorary Clerk suggested that Trustees could be updated on how Poole CT were using the £10,000, to allow Bournemouth CT to then use reserves if those actions were deemed effective.

Trustees sought clarity on why reserves held were recommended to be approximately 20% of the proposed precept. In response, the RFO advised that this figure was a benchmarked figure used by public organisations, following  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23