23 March 2023 - Finance Committee
Minutes of the Ruskington Parish Council Finance Committee meeting on Thursday 23 March 2023 at 10am at Ruskington Parish Office.
Present: Cllr P Cunningham (Chairman of Committee), Cllr G Cox, Cllr O Ditch, Cllr S Tonge
Also present: Kirsty Sinclair (Deputy Clerk & RFO), Kathryn Locke (Clerk to Council)
Apologies: Cllr S Cotter
No members of the public or press were present.
The Chairman opened the meeting at 10.00am.
1. To receive and accept apologies where valid reasons for absence have been given to the Parish Clerk prior to the meeting.
Apologies had been received from Cllr Cotter and their reason for absence were known.
Action: The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to accept Cllr Cotter’s valid reasons for absence.
3. To receive Declarations of Interest under the Localism Act 2011- being any pecuniary interest in agenda items not previously recorded on Members’ Register of Interests.
None were declared at this time.
4. To approve as a correct record the notes of the last meeting held on 11 January 2023.
Action: The Committee RESOLVED to accept the notes of the meeting as accurate Minutes with 3 votes for and one abstention.
The Chairman signed the Minutes.
4. To receive an update on the internal audit.
LALC had allocated an auditor but the date for the internal audit was not yet known.
5. To review the Grants and Donation Policy.
This had been reviewed and an amendment was agreed to remove repetition from the policy.
Action: The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to recommend the policy to Council once the agreed amendments had been made.
6. To review the Risk Management Scheme.
This had been reviewed prior to the meeting. One amendment was agreed for Section 9.
Action: The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to recommend the scheme to Council once the agreed amendment had been made.
7. To receive an update on the budget allocated to the refurbishment and conversion of the parish office property.
The financial information had been circulated prior to the meeting. The RFO gave an overview of the budget and answered questions. £65,383.51 was available for the office refurbishment and conversion. This did not include the zero-carbon grant of £5,000 from LCC for the solar panels, which would only be awarded on completion of work and submission of receipts.
8. To review the Council’s budget and schedule of reserves and consider if any reserves can be re-allocated to cover the cost of the office renovation for recommending to Council.
The budget and schedule of reserves were scrutinised. The RFO answered questions and advised on the spending of general reserves. A risk assessment showed that expenditure from the general reserves had never been required.
Action: The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to recommend to Council that £26,620 from general reserves, the equivalent of 6 weeks’ of operational running costs, be allocated towards the cost of the office renovation. This would provide a budget of £93,003.51 for the renovation and conversion. This did not not include the £5,000 grant from LCC.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 10.30am.