Finance committee meeting 25th of August 2022

starting at 20:00 hours, Village Hall, Caythorpe

Apologies: Cllr Linforth, Parish Clerk 

The chairman addressed the meeting to give clarity to members attending, that the finance committee is a subcommittee of the Caythorpe and Frieston Parish Council and is not a decision-making body, decisions can only be made by the full council, it is the purpose of the committee to advise the full council on implications of funding if approved for projects put to Parish Council.

A parishioner attended the parish council meeting and said he was doing so, in support of Councillor Andy Roberts who is proposing the full electrification and regulation of the church clock winding mechanism that is located on the side of St. Vincent‘s Church in Caythorpe. The said parishioner gave his full support for the clock winding mechanism to be electrified and the chairman asked him if the parochial Church council would be prepared to pay a percentage towards this project. He suggested that  the question be asked by the parish council to the treasurer of the Church committee. The chairman agreed to do this and hoped an answer could be gained before the next parish council meeting.

Action: NF/ Clerk

There had not been a finance committee meeting in this financial year, for the parish council, therefore there were no previous minutes to read out and be accepted.

Balance Sheet, Current Year

The Chairman presented a balance sheet for the current year, there was a little uncertainty between the figures presented and those being recited by the chairman. 

It appeared the sheet that had been circulated with the agenda and the sheet that the chairman was working on was an amended sheet, as such a little confusion crept into the interpretation of the figures and the chairman was unable to answer all questions submitted by Councillor Crawley on the balance sheet. The chairman stated that on the Parish Clerk‘s return from holiday he would find out the answer to these questions and then inform the committee 

Commitments

The chairman pointed out a number of items on the balance sheet which were unlikely to take place this year those being ,the provision of a 

Bus Shelter                                                £4500, 

EV Chargers                                              £2000, 

Repairs to Beacon                                     £1000, 

Replacement Noticeboards                       £750

Total                                                           £8250

25% of OPJ grant paid by SKDC               £1250

                                                                  £9500

Means that we would not have the forecasted deficit on the budget this year of £9840

Additionally, the chairman reported that SKDC had now paid the other 25% (£1250)of the grant, which meant that the parish council was not going to drastically overspend the budget only by a few hundred pounds.

Next Year’s Budget

The proposed budget for 23/24 have not been circulated to members of the Finance committee, therefore even though the chairman had printed copies, he felt it was unfair to ask members to decide on figures they haven’t had time to look into and digest. Therefore, this item was not addressed and was placed on the agenda for a meeting on the 4th of October 2022 at 19:00 hours in the village hall.

New Projects 

1 Fireworks there was no paper from Councillor Betts, so this will be moved to the October meeting 

2 The bus shelter is proposed to be provided but realistically in 2023/24 so it would not happen in this financial year.

3 Electrification of the church clock Councillor Roberts said he had an estimate between £8000 to £9000 for this work to be carried out. Councillor Spackman provided details of an organisation that awarded possible grants for the restoration of church clocks up to 10K. The chairman agreed that this should be investigated by the Parish Clerk as a matter of urgency before the council could make a full decision on it.

Action: Clerk

Councillor Crawley also asked if it had been considered to not just electrify the winding mechanism but the whole clock and its workings could be modernised. The Chair pointed out that this was not a point for the finance committee to consider and should be put to the full council. 

It was agreed to progress the grant option before putting this to the full parish council. However, it was emphasised they were limited people to wind the clock mechanism and as such the clock may fall into misuse. The chairman pointed out that this is a decision to be made for the full council and the finance committee should point out that if the council was to undertake this without any financial support it would involve nearly 25% of the precept.

4 The Queens Platinum Jubilee was not discussed as it had been completed and the clerk would circulate a final balance sheet shortly which should show that the event had broken even.

Precept 2023/24

The final part of the meeting was to set a recommendation for the full council on the precept. However, because the 2023/24 budget could not be presented, the chairman stated it was not correct to ask the finance committee to make recommendations on this and therefore ask them to consider this prior to the next meeting.

Any Other Business

As there was no other business, the meeting closed at 21:00 hours

Date of Next Meeting

Next meeting of the finance committee was organised for the 4th of October 2022 starting at 19:00 hours in the village hall and Parish Clerk has been asked to make a reservation for the committee room