Agenda item

The Chamberlain to be heard.

The Sub Committee heard a verbal report of the Chamberlain, concerning an update on the current position of the City’s Finances, following requests from the Sub Committee on the resources and prioritisation of resources for the EEDI portfolio.

The Sub Committee had sight of a presentation which covered the challenges for the City Fund and the City Estate, and the Medium-Term Financial Plan. With the capital programme, the ambitions were over-exceeding the funds available. There were also the challenges with operational property, an aging estate, and major projects. The City Fund had to be balanced across a Medium-Term Financial Plan, but also the budget needed to be balanced year-on-year. It was forecasted that in a few years, the deficit would not be balanced, and this needed to be addressed. With the City Estate, this operated on a drawdown of assets. However, if the Corporation continued without change, there would no longer be a City Estate.

The Sub Committee heard that the challenges were how to fund areas of pressures at the Corporation, without adding to the deficit and making cuts. It was a question of how to re-prioritise resources, to ensure that the Corporation was providing services to the right place. The Court of Common Council had approved a temporary funding contingency for EEDI, and the next steps were looking into re-prioritising resources to ensure that the EEDI function was supported in the future.

RESOLVED – That the verbal report be noted.