HARRINGWORTH PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of Annual Parish Council meeting held on Thursday11th May 2017 in Harringworth Village Hall
Meeting commenced at 19:55
Present;
Cllr S. McLean (Chairman)
Cllr S Milton(DeputyChairman)
Cllr S Chambers
Cllr L Boon
Cllr G Dolman
Cllr K Dove
Cllr A White
B Chambers (Clerk)
1Apologies for absence
There were no apologies for absence.
2Appointment of Officers
The Clerk took nominations for the office of Chairman.
There being no other nominations and Cllr McLean being prepared to take the office Cllr S. Milton proposed and Cllr D. Dolman seconded that Cllr S. McLean be appointed Chairman of Harringworth Parish Council for 2017/18. The proposition was carried and Cllr S. McLean was duly elected Chairman for the ensuing year.
The Clerk handed back control of the meeting to the Chairman.
The Chairman took nominations for the office of Deputy Chairman.
There being no other nominations and Cllr Milton being prepared to take the office Cllr A. White proposed and Cllr S. Chambers seconded that Cllr S. Milton be appointed Deputy Chairman of Harringworth Parish Council for 2017/18. The proposition was carried and Cllr S. Milton was duly elected Deputy Chairman for the ensuing year.
The Chairman took nominations for the office of Member Responsible for Finance.
There being no other nominations and Cllr Dove being prepared to take the office Cllr S. Chambers proposed and Cllr A. White seconded that Cllr K. Dove be appointed Member Responsible for Finance of Harringworth Parish Council for 2017/18. The proposition was carried and Cllr K. Dove was duly elected Member Responsible for Finance for the ensuing year.
The Chairman took nominations for Internal Auditor.
There being no other nominations and Mr. Waterman being prepared to take the office Cllr S. McLean proposed and Cllr K. Dove seconded that Bill Waterman be appointed Internal Auditor of Harringworth Parish Council for 2017/18. The proposition was carried and Bill Waterman was duly elected Internal Auditor for the ensuing year.
The Chairman took nominations for Footpaths Officer
There being no other nominations and Cllr White being prepared to take the office Cllr L. Boon proposed and Cllr S. Chambers seconded that Cllr A. White be appointed Footpaths Officer of Harringworth Parish Council for 2017/18. The proposition was carried and Cllr A. White was duly elected Footpaths Officer for the ensuing year.
The Chairman took nominations for the Responsible Finance Officer and Burials Officer.There being no other nominations and Brian Chambers being prepared to take the offices, Cllr S. McLean proposed and Cllr seconded that Brian Chambers be confirmed as Responsible Finance Officer and Burials Officer of Harringworth Parish Council for 2017/18, Brian Chambers was duly elected as Responsible Finance Officer and Burials Officer for the ensuing year.
3Acceptance of Office/ Register of Interests
Councillors were reminded that they had signed the “acceptance of office” forms in 2016 at the point of their election.
Councillors were reminded to advise the Clerk of any changes required to the Declaration of Interest forms that had already been completed by Councillors.
4Re-Affirm Code of Conduct
Councillors were reminded that a copy of the Code of Conduct referred to in the Acceptance document signed by all Councillors had been provided and councillors re-affirmed its adoption.
5Approval of minutes of previous AGM
These had been approved and a copy signed by the Chairman at the 14thJuly 2016 meeting of the Council.
6Annual report of the Chairman
The Annual Report of the Chairman had been read by Cllr McLean at the Open Meeting and its content is recorded in the minutes of that meeting.
7Financial Report
The financial report given by the Clerk (shown at appendix A) was given.
The Clerk answered queries relating to the accounts.
The following financial provisions were approved by the Council
Provision for Church Yard maintenance increased by £670 to £3,670
Provision for future election expenses to remain as £1,500
The provision for replacement LED street lighting to remain at£1,500
Provision for General Funds to reduce by £308 to £1,591
Councillors asked that the consideration of financial provisions be added as a regular financial task to the March meeting.
The accounts as presented were approved by the Council having previously been approved by internal audit.Minute reference7.1.2017
Councillors approved the governance statement on the BDO submission form. Minute reference7.2.2017
8Any Other Business
The dates for future meetings were agreed as the second Thursday of July, September, November, January, March and May.
The regular items from the standing orders will be included in the calendar of dates for future meetings and these will be circulated to all Councillors.
The meeting was closed at 8:25 pm
The Clerk was asked to agree arrangements for the Fixed Asset Register with the Internal auditor.
Appendix A
This financial report has been completed following the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/533 reg9) as outlined in the Local Council Administration guidelines, that is to say
“Councils in the small council’ band with budget income or expenditure up to £100,000 must base their accounts on receipts and payments.”
These accounts have been prepared with the help of our internal auditor for whose help I am most grateful. This year the internal audit has already been completed so the figures I’m presenting have been signed off by Bill Waterman.
The spreadsheet on the first page will be familiar to Councillors as it is the same one that is reported on monthly, reconciled with the bank balance and approved at each regular meeting as well as monthly by the MRF. I have annotated some items with numbers shown in brackets, these relate to the relevant item numbers on the external audit submission form for BDO.
Top right hand corner item No1 is our starting balance for the year of £7,899
Bottom left of the sheet shows our precept income of £5,835
Reading across this bottom line we then come to item 3 which is £2,219 made up of the bank interest of £2 plus £670 income from the burial ground, and £1547 of other income. Other income this year is made up of the vat reclaim of £337, £1,150 donations for the defibrillator and £40 contribution towards the cost of cutting the hedge on Seaton Road. The figure also includes the £20 cheque received by the P.C.C. that was wrongly made out to the P.C. This receipt is recorded on the receipts and payments ledger but is not Parish Council income and so is not transferred onto the balance sheet or the BDO submission forms. .
This gives us an income for the year of £8,034 as recorded on the balance sheet.
Moving on to the expenditure;
Item 4 shows staff costs of £1,430; these include the clerk’s salary, PAYE paid by the employer and Thirsk payroll costs for payroll administration,
Item 6 are £6,262 of other expenditure, which is broken down into the items shown above it on the spread-sheet. Within the miscellaneous column we see the payment of the £20 back to the P.C.C., this is not spent on Parish Council activities and so is not transferred to the balance sheet and nets off the £20 receipt discussed earlier.
The expenditure this year significantly increased from the previous year due to the purchase of the defibrillator and associated expenditure.
Our total expenditure for the year was therefore £7,672
We therefore started with £7,899
Received income of £8,034
Spent£7,672
Leaving a balance of £8,261 (allowing for rounding errors)
this being the figure at item 7, bottom right corner of the spreadsheet.
This reconciles with the bank balance at the 31st March of £8,260.88
The numbers from the spreadsheet have been transferred across to the income and expenditure report on the next page (with the exception of the £20 cheque refund for the PCC).
The Council this year are showing a slight excess of receipts over payments of £362.
You will see at the bottom of the Income & Expenditure report that the final balance of £8,261 is represented by a number of provisions that the Council need to approve.
The Burial Ground provision is to build the required capital required for the works to extend the burial ground to the full extent of the land gifted to the Parish Council. This provision has been increased by £670 to £3,670, this being the burial ground receipts for the year. The Council decided in July 2016 that its policy would be that all burial ground receipts within a given year would be used to add to this provision at the end of that year. Future election expenses have been left the same as the previous year at £1,500. A provision of £1,500 towards the cost of street light replacement remains unchanged from last year. Finally the Parish Council General funds have decreased by £308 largely due to the Parish Councils contribution towards the cost of the defibrillator.
As a general principle the Council is aiming to use burial ground income to grow the provision for the burial ground and precept income to fund regular bills such as street lighting.
On the third page there is a comparison of this year’s expenditure with last years. Any variance greater than 10% has an explanation shown against it on the sheet.
Turning to the BDO submission form
The numbers from the Income and Expenditure report have been transferred on to page 3 and these have been approved by the internal auditor and I ask the council to confirm that the figures given on page 3 are approved?
The Council are also asked to confirm the governance statement shown on page 2 of the submission.
I am happy to take any questions from Councillors on these accounts.
Returning to page 2 of the income and expenditure report, Councillors need to approve the provisions shown at the bottom of the page;
For burial ground the figure increases by £670 to become £3,670
For election expenses the figure to remain at £1,500
For street light replacement programme to remain at £1,500
Leaving £1,591 in general funds
Finally, we last reviewed our financial standing orders in 2013, I do not think there are any alterations required and would ask the Council to reaffirm these standing orders are correct.
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Harringworth Parish CouncilReceipts & Payments Account
for the year ending :- / 2016/17 / 2015/16
Receipts / £ / £
Precept / 5835 / 5665
Interest / 2 / 3
Burial fees / 670 / 205
other / 40 / 0
VAT recovered / 337 / 947
Defibrilator donations / 1150 / 0
8034 / 6820
2016/17 / 2015/16
Payments / £ / £
Administration / 1430 / 901
Street lights / 626 / 613
Insurance / 328 / 317
Audit / 50 / 50
Grass cutting / 2355 / 2067
Churchyard repairs / 0 / 0
Rent of Hall / 100 / 210
Subscriptions / 65 / 48
Miscellaneous expenses / 114 / 103
VAT paid / 860 / 333
Defibrilator / 1744 / 0
7672 / 4642
Excess of Receipts over Payments / 362 / 2178
Balance Sheet
as at 31st March 2017
2016/17 / 2015/16
Cash at Bank / £ / £
Business account / 4067 / 4065
Current account / 4194 / 3834
8261 / 7899
Represented by:-
Parish Council General Funds / 1591 / 1899
Provision for burial ground / 3670 / 3000
Provision for future Election Expenses / 1500 / 1500
Provision for street light replacement programme / 1500 / 1500
Funds at 31st March 2017 / 8261 / 7899
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VARIANCES - 2016/17 v 2015/16for the year ending 31st March 2017
2016/2017 / 2015/2016 / %
Receipts / actual / actual / Variance / Variance
PRECEPT / 5835 / 5665 / 170 / 3% / 3% Precept increase
INTEREST / 2 / 3 / -1 / -33%
BURIAL GROUND / 670 / 205 / 465 / 227% / increased burial ground activity in 2016/17
VAT RECOVERY / 337 / 947 / -610 / -64% / VAT recovery high in previous year owing to tree works & mowing contract in previous year
DEFIBRILATOR DONATIONS / 1150 / 0 / 1150 / 100% / defibrillator donations from County Councillor, District Councillor & Appeals committee
OTHER / 40 / 0 / 40 / 100% / Contribution to Seaton Road hedge cutting
TOTAL / 8034 / 6820
Payments
ADMIN/SALS / 1430 / 901 / 529 / 59% / Quarter 4 salary for 2014/5 was authorised at May 2016 meeting
STREET LIGHTS / 626 / 613 / 13 / 2% / Eon electricity charges increase
INSURANCE / 328 / 317 / 11 / 3% / insurance tax change
AUDIT / 50 / 50 / 0 / 0% / no change
GRASS CUTTING / 2355 / 2067 / 288 / 14% / New grass cutting contract rates
Church yard repairs / 0 / 0 / 0 / no major repairs carried out in 2016/17
RENT OF HALL / 100 / 210 / -110 / -52% / May 2016 - Nov 2016 @ £25/meeting remainder due to be authorised at May 2017 meeting
ELECTION/REFER / 0 / 69 / -69 / -100% / £69 election expenses in general election year (2016)
SUBSCRIPTIONS / 65 / 48 / 17 / 35% / Increased SLCC subscription
PETTY CASH &MISC / 114 / 34 / 80 / 235% / Costs increased by £80 for Seaton Road hedge clearance
VAT PAID / 860 / 333 / 527 / 158% / increased as new grass cutting contractor is vat registered
Defibrilator / 1744 / 0 / 1744 / 100% / funded from dontations received in year plus PC funds
TOTAL / 7672 / 4642
Receipts / Payments / 362 / 2178
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