Agenda item

Draft Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget and Housing Capital Budget 2013/14 to 2015/16 - CG/12/1023

Meeting of Council, Wednesday, 19th December, 2012 10.30 am (Item 13.)

Minutes:

With reference to Article 14 of the minute of meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee of 6 December 2012, the Council had before it a joint report by the Director of Corporate Governance and the Director of Housing and Environment which provided members with information to allow the setting of the rent level for the financial year 2013/14 as well as provisional rent levels for the financial years 2014/15 and 2015/16, explaining that this would allow a capital programme for 2013/14 to be set as well as a provisional programme for 2014/15 and 2015/16.

The report recommended:-

that the Finance and Resources Committee consider the draft Housing Revenue Account budget and refer the report to Council on 19 December 2012 for:-

(a) approval of the budget as attached as Appendix 1;

(b) approval of the weekly unrebated rents for municipal houses, as detailed in Appendix 1, to take effect from Monday 1 April 2013;

(c) approval of the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2013/14 as well as a provisional contribution for the subsequent two financial years as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(d) approval of the recommendation by the Head of Finance to increase working balances from 5% to 10% over a three year period to meet future contingencies;

(e) approval of the continuation of the practice that all capital receipts, from the disposal of Council houses, be used to repay debt for 2013/14 and future years;

(f) approval of the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent as detailed in Appendix 1;

(g) approval of other adjustments Council might wish to make to the draft HRA for the financial years 2013/14 to 2015/16; and

(h) setting of a capital programme for the financial year 2013/14 based on the rent strategy adopted as well as the indicative level of programme for the financial years 2014/15 and 2015/16.

The Finance and Resources Committee had referred the report simpliciter to Council.

The Council resolved:-

(i) to approve the budget as detailed in Appendix 1 below;

(ii) to approve an average weekly rent increase of 3.6% to take effect from Monday 1 April 2013;

(iii) to approve a revenue contribution of £21.7million to the Housing Capital budget for 2013/14;

(iv) to agree the recommendation by the Head of Finance to retain adequate working balances to meet future contingencies with a view to increasing this to 10% over the next three financial years;

(v) to agree the continuation of the practice that all capital receipts, from the disposal of Council houses, continue to be used to repay debt for 2013/14 and future years;

(vi) to approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent, as detailed in Appendix 2 below; and

(vii) to set a capital programme of £41.5million for the financial year 2013/14 based on the rent strategy.

Appendix 1

	Housing Revenue Account
		Budget	Out-turn	Budget
		2012/13	2012/13	2013/14

		£000	£000	£000

	Premises Costs
1	Rates	3	3	3
2	Rent - Other	135	115	138
3	Repairs and Maintenance	23,264	23,092	22,042
4	Maintenance of Grounds	2,560	2,866	3,045
5	Gas	714	714	674
6	Electricity	2,361	2,361	2,420
7	Cleaning Service	476	476	542
8	Security Service	444	372	372
9	Window Cleaning	19	19	19
10	Refuse Collection	240	320	325
11	Cleaning - Sheltered Housing	475	449	453
12	Premises Insurance	56	56	57
13	Other Property Costs - Council Tax	115	122	122
		30,862	30,965	30,212

	Administration Costs
14	Downsizing Grants/Direct Debit Incentives	52	15	52
15	Legal Expenses	222	201	201
16	Office Tel / Rent	88	88	88
17	Former Tenants Arrears	1,379	1,379	1,379
18	Charges - Services Admin & Management.	8,556	7,968	8,582
19	General Consultancy	55	55	55
20	Training for Front Line Staff	100	100	100
21	Benefits Staff	94	94	95
22	Charges - Tenants Participation	238	238	206
23	Charges for Environmental Health	213	227	227
		10,997	10,365	10,984

	Supplies & Services
24	Provision of Meals	177	166	168
25	Equipment Purchase	55	55	55
26	Television Licence	5	5	5
27	Integrated Housing System	338	338	314
		575	564	542

	Agencies
28	Mediation Service	98	98	98
29	Energy Advice	81	81	81
30	Citizens Advice Bureau	14	14	14
31	Disabled Persons Housing Service	38	38	38
		231	231	231
	Housing Revenue Account	Budget	Out-turn	Budget
		2012/13	2012/13	2013/14
		£000	£000	£000

	Transfer Payments
32	Aberdeen Families Project	400	400	414
33	Loss of Rent - Council Houses	722	754	722
34	Loss of Rent - Garages, Parking etc	153	211	211
35	Loss of Rent - Modernisation Works	86	50	50
36	Supporting People Contribution	406	406	406
37	CFCR	17,675	21,284	21,748
		19,442	23,105	23,551

	Capital Financing Costs
38	Loans Fund Instalment	4,260	3,168	3,903
39	Loans Fund Interest	10,819	8,889	9,559
40	Heating Leasing Payment	131	131	131
		15,210	12,188	13,593

	Expense Total	77,317	77,418	79,113

	Income
41	Government Grant - General	(420)	(234)	(234)
42	Ground Rentals	(25)	(25)	(27)
43	Dwelling Houses Rent Income	(73,144)	(73,748)	(76,220)
44	Housing - Heat with Rent Income	(1,534)	(1,459)	(1,459)
45	Housing - Garages Rent Income	(1,096)	(1,087)	(1,087)
46	Housing - Parking Spaces Rent	(167)	(187)	(187)
47	Housing - Insurance Income	(8)	(8)	(2)
48	Housing - Other Service Charge	(479)	(489)	(489)
49	Legal Expenses	(323)	(260)	(260)
50	Revenue Balance Interest	(121)	(121)	(148)

	Income Total	(77,317)	(77,618)	(80,113)

	Net Expenditure	0	0	(1,000)

Appendix 2

Miscellaneous Rents

Heat with Rent - 48 week basis
	Previous	Proposed
Gas Heated Properties	£	£
Bedsits	8.25	9.05
1 bedroom flats	8.95	9.85
2 bedroom flats	9.25	10.25
3 bedroom flats	10.35	11.45

Electrically Heated Properties
Bedsits	9.25	10.05
1 bedroom flats	9.95	10.85
2 bedroom flats	10.65	11.65
3 bedroom flats	11.35	12.45

CHP Properties
All 1 bedroom properties	8.90	9.80
All 2 bedroom properties	9.40	10.40
All 3 bedroom properties	10.10	11.20

ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT

Proposed Increase to be included in the HRA budget - Miscellaneous Rents
		2013/2014
		Current	Proposed	Increase	Percentage	Additional
		Rental	Rental	Per Week	Increase	Income
	Miscellaneous Increases	£	£	£	%	£
	Garages	9.10	10.00	0.90	9.89	89,078
	Denburn and West North Street Spaces	4.40	4.55	0.15	3.41	4,514
	Garages Sites	3.70	3.85	0.15	4.05	1,771
	Car Ports	4.10	4.25	0.15	3.66	1,037
	Car Parking Spaces - Local Residents	3.40	3.40	0	0	0
	Parking Spaces Non Local Residents	35.00	35.00	0	0	0
	Window Cleaning	0.85	0.85	0	0	0
	Meals at Denmore & Kingswood	35.00	35.00	0	0	0
	Mortgage Reference Fees	60.00	62.00	2.00	3.33	56
	Guest Rooms	10.00 & 15.00	10.00 &15.00	0	0	0
	Owners Administration fees	16.13	38.59	22.46	139.24	11,544
						108,001

	General Services
	Housing - Homeless Account
	Clinterty Caravan Site	79.00	82.00	3.00	3.80	5,040
						5,040

	Accommodation Units (Grant Funded)
	Adult (first 2)	54.00	56.00	2.00	3.70	27,500
	Child	36.00	37.00	1.00	2.78	6,875
						34,375

Supporting documents: