Our Financial Performance and Annual Accounts
We want the Council's finances to be as clear and open as possible. We also believe it is important to explain our budgeting processes in a clear and accessible format. We account to you for the ways in which we spend your money.
- |Budget & Financial Performance
- |Council Tax
- |Capital Programme
- |Statement of Accounts
- |Audit Of Accounts Year Ended 31 March 2011
|Budget and Financial Performance
Last year we had a gross expenditure budget of £69 million to be able to deliver our services. The Council's planned net expenditure on services in 2009/10 was £18.9m, an increase of 3.4% on the previous year.
| Income Stream | Value |
|---|---|
| Council tax from Elmbridge households | £12.4m |
| General Government grant | £6.5m |
| Specific Government grants | £36.2m |
| Interest on balances | £1.8m |
| Use of Reserves | £0.7m |
| General income | £11.4m |
| To fund total expenditure | £69m |
The Council had to cope with increased costs of £1.2m which arose from inflation. The financial performance table shown here has been prepared in the same format as our planned expenditure published within the Council Tax leaflet for 2009/10. It can be seen that there was an overall underspend of £23,000 for the year.
Financial Performance 2009/10
The following table provides a summary of the Council's income and expenditure for the year. A full copy of the Statement of Accounts is available.
| Service Area | Planned Spend £000 | Actual Spend £000 |
|---|---|---|
| Community development | 635 | 543 |
| Corporate development | 2,308 | 2,065 |
| Environment | 6,203 | 6,025 |
| Highways and transport | 64 | (135) |
| Housing | 2,246 | 1,784 |
| Leisure and culture | 4,425 | 4,608 |
| Regulatory affairs | 619 | 601 |
| Resources | 2,305 | 2,724 |
| Social affairs | 2,597 | 2,361 |
| Planning | 1,195 | 1,374 |
| Licensing | 291 | 217 |
| Net cost of all services | 22,888 | 22,167 |
| Internal charge adjustments | (2,073) | (1,823) |
| Interest on balances | (1,765) | (1,876) |
| Use of reserves | (722) | (145) |
| Capital financing costs | 522 | 504 |
| Total | 18,850 | 18,827 |
Unspent budgets for specific projects not completed within the year have been carried forward to the current year (2010/11) and are included within Use of Reserves in the above analysis.
The Council has put in place arrangements for the identification and management of risk, with robust policies and procedures covering all aspects of the authority's activities. This ensures that both strategic and operational risks are fully considered in the development of improvement plans and projects, and in the effective delivery of service. The Council's approach to risk management is available from the |Head of Finance.
|Council tax
Although Elmbridge Borough Council collects all of the council tax for the Borough, we actually only receive 13.4% of the money collected. The bulk of the money goes to Surrey County Council and Surrey Police for their services in this Borough. Residents living in Claygate pay slightly more as a contribution to the Claygate Parish Council, which is set by the Parish Councillors themselves. Last year we collected a total of £87m in council tax for all of the above organisations, with a collection rate of 98.8%, one of the best in the Country. We also collect business rates on behalf of the government - with a collection rate of 98.2%.
| Organisation | Money | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Surrey County Council | £1,089.18 | 73.3% |
| Elmbridge Borough Council | £199.19 | 13.4% |
| Surrey Police | £197.10 | 13.3% |
| Total (Band D) | £1,485.47 | 100.0% |
| Service | From £1 spent |
|---|---|
| Environment and Highways £5.9m e.g. recycling and refuse collection | 27p |
| Leisure and culture £4.6m e.g. parks, museum and open spaces | 21p |
| Resources £2.7m e.g. council tax collection | 12p |
| Social affairs £2.4m e.g. community transport | 11p |
| Corporate development £2.1m e.g. electoral registration | 9p |
| Housing £1.8m e.g. securing affordable homes | 8p |
| Planning and Licensing £1.4m e.g. processing planning applications | 7p |
| Regulatory affairs £0.6m e.g. planning policy | 3p |
| Community development £0.5m e.g. CCTV | 2p |
|Our capital programme
In addition to income and expenditure on the day to day running of our services, we have what is called a 'capital programme' for funding large projects such as renovation of buildings and CCTV etc. For the most part, our Capital Programme was financed from capital receipts received from the sale of surplus property.
The major item of capital expenditure in 2009/10 was on the construction of the synthetic turf pitch at the Xcel Leisure Centre. Other areas receiving significant capital investment included provision of recycling containers, housing adaptations for disabled persons, children's playgrounds, improvements to public buildings and information technology/electronic access to services. |A more detailed list of the Councils investment in capital projects is available.
Looking to the coming year
The budget for this year, April 2010 to March 2011, has been set at £19.0m together with a capital programme of £5.6 million. These are the amounts that we believe we will need in order for us to continue providing our high quality services and to meet the ambitious targets and projects set for the year.
|A selection of what we do each week...
|Statement of Accounts
The Statement of Accounts is by definition a statutory, formal document which sets out a high level view of how the money has been spent and where the money has come from. Since it is designed to meet specific government and accounting requirements, it is prepared with our auditors and is a technical document which means that it is not always easy to understand.
Previous statements of accounts are available
