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The Annual Report of Hereford City Council, for the year ended 31st March 2001 is issued to provide details of its activities during the year 2000-2001; It also catalogues the events between the reorganization of Herefordshire Councils, at 1st April 1998, and the creation of the Parish of the City of Hereford on 1st April 2000.
The Financial information has, from 1st April 2000, been produced using the Intuit system known as QuickBooks Pro; The previous year The Charter Trustees used a combination of Sage Instant Payroll and Excel spreadsheets. QuickBooks comprises a complete system including Payroll, Stock and Time recording.
District Audit audits the Council’s accounts annually and the public right to inspect the accounts and question the auditor on them is published in the local press and on the Town Hall notice board.
The District Auditor has not yet issued his Certificate in relation to the following accounts although they have been audited. (N.B.: Certificate received from District Audit June 2003)
Hereford City Council
1. David Cyril SHORT St. Nicholas
2 Eveline Mary BEW St. Nicholas
3 Basil Cuthbert BALDWIN Central
4 John Walter NEWMAN Belmont
5 Leslie Mervyn Henson ANDREWS Three Elms
6 David John FLEET Central
7 Clement Allan TUDGE Belmont
8 Richard THOMAS St. Martins
9 Susan ANDREWS Aylestone
10 W. Ursula ATTFIELD St. Martins
11 Alan WILLIAMS Aylestone
12 Peter Derwent EVANS Holmer
13 Marcelle D. LLOYD-HAYES Tupsley
14 Paulina Averil ANDREWS Holmer
15 William James WALLING Tupsley
16 Jason HANKINS Three Elms
17 Richard C. GREEN Hinton
18 Aubrey T. OLIVER Hinton
HEREFORD CITY COUNCIL COST HEADS
Civic/Ceremonial
Hereford City Council owns the ancient civic property of the City, comprising swords, maces, charters, chains of office, silver etc., The collection is of considerable value and historic importance and was revalued this year for insurance purposes.
The Mayoralty of Hereford is one of the oldest in Britain and dates back to 1382, before which sheriffs and bailiffs fulfilled the role. The first Charter dates back to 1189.
This cost head includes such traditional function costs as The Three Choirs Festival, Three Counties Show, Twinning, Civic Apparel & Regalia/Insignia, Official Visits/Receptions and Mayoral Installation. During the year the Mayor welcomes visitors from all over the world in addition to the many local visitors. There are generally exchange visits between the City’s twin towns of Dillenberg in Germany and Vierzon in France. In August 2000 Hereford was the ‘host’ City to the Three Choirs Festival – a reserve is built up over the preceding years to meet the increased expenditure, which reduces the cost impact of the host year. Similar arrangements are made in respect of the Three Counties Show and also for Twinning costs during the New Millenium celebrations.
This cost head, together with Supplies/Services, has been regularized, as certain Civic costs had originally been included with Supplies & Services.
Municipal Elections
An unexpected cost during 2000 had to be met from the General Reserve in respect of the elections for the new Parish Council. Being held at the same time as the District Elections reduced the cost to 50%, even so this amounted to almost £17,000 being recharged to the Parish by Herefordshire. An annual provision to build up a reserve for such costs will be made in future.
Committee Structure
Council
Planning Committee Finance, Appointments & Urgent Business Committee
City Cost
Expenditure recharged against the Parish by Herefordshire Unitary Authority, and included in the initial precept provided by them, included the following for 2000-2001:
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£
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Allotments
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10,000
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Grants/Donations
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20,000
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C.C.T.V.
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27,000
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Christmas Lights
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22,000
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City Centre Manager
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12,000
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Parks & Open Spaces
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208,000
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Highways Cleansing
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89,000
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£388,000
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The title to the Allotments (approx. 17acres) has now been confirmed as transferred to the Parish and a new agreement is the process of being drawn up between Hereford City Council and The Allotments Association who manage the allotments.
Herefordshire District Council recharge the BT costs of CCTV, Herefordshire’s basic contribution towards the Christmas lights in the City, 50% of the City Centre Manager’s salary and oncosts and approximately 60% of their Parks & Open Spaces cost to the City Council,
Highways Cleansing has been removed from the precept for 2001-2002 since this is not considered to be a Parish function.
Service Level Agreements are in the process of being drawn up, prior to agreement between Herefordshire and the Parish, in respect of the above listed items. The Parish expects to work in partnership with the Unitary Authority to provide enhancements to the duties and responsibilities carried out by the Unitary Authority within the City of Hereford.
Grants/Donations
The Council now has the power to make grants to various local organizations.
The amount recharged by Herefordshire District to Hereford City during 2000-2001, is based on 1998-99 expenditure, and built up as follows:
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£
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Age Concern (City element)
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5,000
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Hereford Access Committee
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360
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Hereford Guild of Guides
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450
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Hereford Samaritans
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1,000
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Hereford Society of Model Engineers
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250
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Hereford Childminders
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100
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CAB (Hereford)
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11,840
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Hereford Cider Museum
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500
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Hereford Pre-School Learning
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500
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£20,000
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Applications for grants/donations have been received for the year 2001-2002 and will shortly be considered.
Planning
The Parish Council became a consultative body in respect of plans submitted for Hereford City with effect from 1st April 2000. The Council submits its observations to Herefordshire District Council, which then determines the applications. This has required approximately fortnightly committee meetings, which generate an increased administration cost but provide an important voice for the citizens of Hereford.
Employee Costs
A Town Clerk was appointed in March 2000 to manage the Civic/Legal affairs of the Parish; The salaries of the staff are now in accordance with NJC and NALC rates and conditions of service. Under the Charter Trustees both the Clerk and the Treasurer were paid a small honorarium, whereas they are now paid hourly; This change, together with the increased hours of work, are reflected in the increased Payroll costs.
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Structure 2000-2001
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Town Clerk
– M D Fellows
(P/T –approx 10hrs/week)
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Treasurer –D V Piears
(P/T –20hrs - 25 hrs/week)
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Mayor’s Secretary
-Mrs B M Fresle
(based on30 hrs/week)
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Mayor’s Officer
- R W Stokes
(based on 30hrs/week)
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Liveried Officers
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(8 paid £15 per attendance
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+ £15 retainer)
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Premises
The accommodation rents have been reviewed and a new agreement in respect of what was Flat 1 at the Town Hall has resulted in a reduction from £10,290 to £7,886 per annum. In addition the Parish have acquired Flat 2 at the Town Hall; This was felt necessary both from a security aspect and from the point of view of storage facilities for the future. The overall result is a reduction in the premises cost
.HEREFORD CITY COUNCIL
Precept
The expenditure of the authority is met by levying a precept on the Unitary Authority. The first year precept of the Charter Trustees (1998/1999) and the first year precept of the new Parish (2000/2001) were decided by the Unitary authority and amounted to £86,550 and £490,900 respectively. The additional figure amounted approximately to the special ‘City Rate’ imposed on the City by Herefordshire. The City Council is in the process of negotiating Service Level Agreements with Herefordshire to account for the greater part of this precept as enhancements to Herefordshire’s responsibilities, rather than taking on Herefordshire’s responsibilities. Analysis of the precept is as follows: -
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Charter Trustees
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Hereford City Council
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1998-1999
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1999-2000
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2000-2001
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£
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£
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£
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86,550
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90,900
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90,900
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Additional
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400,000
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Total
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490,900
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Analysed as
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18,130
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Civic Ceremonial
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9,380
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36,540
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Employees
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54,550
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9,070
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Mayoral
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10,220
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8,480
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Premises
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10,240
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13,730
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Supplies/Services
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11,310
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4,950
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Transport
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5,200
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90,900
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132,900
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Spent by Parish
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Allotments
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10,000
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Grants/Donations
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20,000
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30,000
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City Costs
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CCTV
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27,000
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Christmas Lights
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22,000
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City Centre Manager
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12,000
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Highways Cleansing
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89,000
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Parks & O/Spaces
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208,000
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388,000
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Recharged to Parish by Herefordshire
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The precepts are generally expressed as Equivalent Band-D property figures i.e. how much each Band-D
Property within the Unitary Authority, would contribute towards the cost of the precept in the year - if it were wholly funded by Band-D properties. The precepts are actually funded by all property Council Tax collected and are thus different for each banded property; The Band-d equivalent is just a convenient measure for comparison purposes.
The following table shows the breakdown of the precepts into Band-D Equivalents.
Band D Equivalents of Estimates/Precept
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1998-1999
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1999-2000
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2000-2001
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Charter Trustees
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Hereford Town/City Council
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Base
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£15,810
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£15,810
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£16,101.75
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Band-D
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£5.47
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£5.75
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£30.49
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Precept
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£86,550
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£90,900
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£490,900
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Band-D
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Band-D
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£
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£ p
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£
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£ p
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Allotments
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10,000
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0.62
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Grants/Donations
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20,000
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1.24
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Other Specific Projects
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2,000
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0.12
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C.C.T.V
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27,000
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1.68
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Christmas Lights
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22,000
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1.37
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City Centre Manager
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12,000
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0.75
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Parks & Open Spaces
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208,000
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12.92
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Highways Cleansing
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89,000
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5.53
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Civic/Ceremonial
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17,290
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1.09
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9,380
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0.58
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Employees
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38,580
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2.44
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54,550
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3.39
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Mayoral/Members
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9,720
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0.61
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10,220
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