Budget & Precept
General
The budget is a financial plan that the Council is responsible for and should be reflect anticipated items of income and expenditure. The income for the Council includes the precept levied on residents as part of their overall Council tax. The level of precept levied should reflect the income and expenditure as well as any adjustment to the level of reserves that the Council wishes to hold at the end of its financial year.
Level of Reserves
This is an important part of the budget setting process. The reserves are held for three main purposes:
- A working balance to help cushion the impact of uneven cash flows and avoid unnecessary temporary borrowing. This forms part of general reserves
- Reserves to cushion the impact of unexpected events or emergencies and expenditure that the timing or amount is unknown. This also forms part of general reserves
- Earmarked reserves, to meet known liabilities.
Earmarked reserves not eventually spent on the purpose intended cannot simply be transferred back to General Reserves but used to reduce the precept or other capital expenditure