Minutes of a meeting of the Finance Committee held in the Council Chamber, Windmill Lane, Northam on Tuesday 2nd December 2009 PRESENT: Chairman - Cllr B M Edwards Members - Cllrs Mrs S Collins, R Johnson (in substitution for Cllr R Osborne) C K Langton Others Member in attendance – Cllrs P Hames Apologies were recorded on behalf of the Town Mayor, Cllr R H Osborne 1. Minutes Minutes of the meeting held 17th November 2009 were approved and signed. (Vote: Unanimous) 2. Budget for 2010/2011
The Town Clerk explained that at the end of this financial year there is likely to be a total balance in the order of £170,000. The Council's policy is to hold £100,000 in reserve and therefore £70,000 will be available to go forward to assist next year's expenditure. It follows, therefore, that available funds next year will be made up of £145,680 of income and £70,000 from balances making a total of £215,680. Therefore the Council's anticipated expenditure can be contained by maintaining the precept at £100,000. However, Members thought it prudent to increase the precept by a small amount in order to protect future years' expenditure and to avoid dramatic rises in the future. It was therefore recommended to Council that the precept be set at £105,000. With regard to the figure allowed for tourism, Cllr Johnson proposed that this be included to assist in the funding in the setting up of a website which would be dedicated to tourism in this area.
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