Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Head of Finance which provided the financial position of the Council as at quarter 1 (April - June 2017) and the full year forecast position for the financial year 2017/18.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          note the following:-

(1)       General Fund and HRA financial performance as detailed in Appendix 1;

(2)       Common Good financial performance as detailed in Appendix 3;

(3)       General Fund forecast revenue position as detailed in Appendix 2;

(4)       HRA forecast revenue position as detailed in Appendix 2;

(5)       General Fund five year capital position as detailed in Appendix 2;

(6)       HRA forecast capital position as detailed in Appendix 2;

(7)       Common Good forecast revenue position as detailed in Appendix 1; and

(b)          approve the following, further details of which are provided in Appendix 2:

General Fund Revenue

(1)       the allocation of £130,000 from the Contingency budget to fund additional resources to respond to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry;

(2)       the allocation of £50,000, initially from the Contingency budget, to fund the reburial of human remains at Mither Kirk on the understanding that other sources of funding would be investigated and if identified used to reimburse the General Fund;

(3)       further to the confirmation by Council on 29 June 2017 of its commitment to the project, to agree to the use of the “De-Risk the Council” earmarked reserve to provide a £2million loan to Aberdeen Performing Arts for the redevelopment of the Music Hall and delegate authority to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in consultation with the Head of Finance to agree the terms of the loan and associated legal agreements;

(4)       to instruct the Head of Finance to work with Services, using his influence as appropriate, to ensure the budget position agreed by Council was adhered to;

General Fund Capital

(5)       the inclusion of the JIVE (Joint Initiative for Hydrogen Vehicles across Europe) project in the programme with the current provisional figures, Gross Expenditure £7.2million, Gross Income £4.7million and Net Expenditure £2.5million to be funded by borrowing;

(6)       further to the agreement in principle by Council on 21 June 2017 to purchase Kingsmead Nursing Home, to agree the inclusion of the acquisition in the programme with delegated authority provided to the Head of Land and Property Assets in consultation with the Convener of Finance, Policy and Resources, the Head of Finance and the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to negotiate and conclude the purchase of the property;

(7)       further to the report to the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee on 27 June 2017 on Capital Programme Governance and the actions contained therein, to provide delegated authority to the Interim Director of Communities, Housing and Infrastructure, in consultation with the Head of Finance, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and the Convener of Finance, Policy and Resources to allocate funds for Project Management and Other costs from the Construction Inflation budget;

Common Good

(8)       the allocation of £20,000 funding to Celebrate Aberdeen;

(9)       the allocation of £2,000 funding from the International Twinning budget to the Aberdeen History Society;

(10)    the allocation of £56,000 for the Denis Law Freedom of the City event; and

(11)    the allocation of up to £1million capital funding for the proposed redevelopment of Aberdeen Science Centre, to be phased over financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20, with this being subject to the exploration of other funding sources thereby reducing the amount required from the Council, and with delegated authority to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, in consultation with the Head of Finance to agree the terms associated with the funding.

The Council resolved:-

(i)           to approve the recommendations; and

(ii)          to request the Head of Finance to clarify the difference between the developer contributions of £11.7million referred to on page 213 of the report and developer contributions of £18.393million referred to on page 219 of the report and respond to Councillor Nicoll accordingly.