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Hereford City Council

The Annual Report of Hereford City Council, for the year ended 31^st March 2002 is

issued to provide details of its activities during the year 2001-2002.

The Financial information has, from 1^st April 2000, been produced using the Intuit system

 known as QuickBooks Pro. QuickBooks comprises a complete system including Payroll,

 Stock and Time recording.

District Audit has audited the Council’s accounts annually until 2000-2001. With effect

 from 1^st April 2002 the Audit Commission has introduced a new ‘lighter touch’ audit

regime for local councils. This will affect the accounts for the year 2001-2002. The Audit Commission have appointed the firm Winross Hacker Young, from Birmingham, to be the auditors for Hereford city Council. The basic audit will be carried out under a fixed fee

with additional rates charged for ‘extra work’. The rights of local electors are not affected

 and the public continue to have the right to inspect the accounts and question the auditor.

 A notice to this effect is posted on the Town Hall notice board.

The District Auditor has not yet issued his Certificate in relation to the 1999-2000

 accounts, nor to the 2000-2001 accounts, although they have been audited. ( N.B.: Certificates received from District Audit - June 2003)

Councillors 2001-2002		Ward
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
Paulina Averil ANDREWS		Holmer
15       William James WALLING		Tupsley
16         Jason HANKINS		Three Elms
17       Richard C. GREEN		Hinton
18       Aubrey T. OLIVER		Hinton

• Members of Hereford City Council give their time freely and receive no allowances or payments for their services to the City during the financial year.

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 2003 Hereford will be the ‘host’ City to the Three Choirs Festival – a reserve is being built up over the preceding years to meet the increased expenditure, which reduces the cost impact during the host year. Similar arrangements are made in respect of the Three Counties Show although the Civic presence was not invited in 2001 and it is unsure whether the future format of the show will include the ‘Civic Procession’ of all the Mayors and their officers again. A reserve is also kept for 'Twinning' costs in case major twinning celebrations occur in future years. The City Council also has a reserve for Municipal Election costs which will be incurred in 2003. A reserve also exists for Special Hereford Projects and during the past year payments have been made towards the ‘City of Living Crafts’ project amongst other smaller projects.

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 is now made in order to build up a reserve for the 2003 Election costs.

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, which has altered slightly due to a Service Level Agreement finally being signed between the two authorities.

The title to the Allotments (approx. 17acres), having been confirmed as transferred to the Parish, is awaiting a new agreement to be drawn up between Hereford City Council and The Allotments Association who manage the allotments.

Herefordshire District Council recharge …£27,000 towards the BT costs of CCTV (£33,023 in 2001-2002), £22,000 towards Herefordshire’s basic contribution towards the Christmas lights in the City (£31,066 in 2001-2002), £20,000 towards their grants made to Hereford City organizations (£20,450 in 2001-2002) and £200,000 towards the cost of the City Parks & Open Spaces cost (£321,868 in 2001-2002). The grant element will cease from 2003 and Hereford City Council will then be able to make a greater amount available for its own grants & donations.

50% of the original City Centre Manager’s salary is now paid to the Hereford City Centre Partnership Ltd., this is towards the employment cost of the Hereford City Promotions & Development Manager; Highways Cleansing has been removed from the precept for 2001-2002 since this is not considered to be a Parish function.

 A Service Level Agreements has been drawn up and will run for a period of three years from 1^st April 2002. The payment will be varied in line with the Retail Price Index for the month prior to the beginning of the relevant financial year. 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:

	£                 2000-2001	£                 2001-2002
Age Concern  (City element)	5,000	9,550
Coningsby Museum		450
Deaf Direct (Hereford)		1,500
Hereford Access Committee	360	350
Hereford Cider Museum	500	500
HCVYS		2,500
Hereford Guild of Guides	450	250
Hereford Samaritans	1,000	150
Hereford Association for the Blind		1,500
Hereford Photography Festival		2,000
Hereford Society of Model Engineers	250
Hfd.Citizens Advocacy Now		750
Hereford Childminders	100
CAB (Hereford)	11,840
Hereford Cider Museum	500
Hereford Unity Garden		500
Hereford Pre-School Learning	500	_______
	£20,000	£20,000

Applications for grants/donations received by Hereford City Council were decided as follows:

	£
Alzheimer’s Society	250
Arthritis Care	250
Camps for Children from Chernobyl	1,000
Hereford Access for All	200
Hereford City Partnership	1,000
Herefordshire Family Mediation	660
WRVS Hereford	500
Age Concern Hereford	1,000
Hereford Guild of Guides	1,007
Friends of Herefordshire Youth Music	385
Hereford Concert Society	500
Hereford & dist. Disabled Swimming Club	250
Other various small donations	1,609
	£8,611

The figure of £20,000 towards Herefordshire Unitary Authority grants to City organizations was retained in the SLA as Herefordshire had agreed grants over a fixed period to the organizations involved – changing this would have upset their (Herefordshire’s) budgets – up to 31^st March 2003. The City Council had made the above figure in grants of its own before the SLA figure was finally agreed; this has meant some overspending in the City Council’s budget which has been taken from its General Reserve.

Planning

The Parish Council became a consultative body in respect of plans submitted for Hereford City with effect from 1^st 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. The estimated (but not shown) administrative cost is in the region of £11,000.

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. The new External Audit arrangements will entail the employment of an Internal Auditor in 2002-2003. This new post will be part-time and is not expected to take up more than 40 hours in the year

Premises

The accommodation rents amount to £8,850 per annum. Accommodation comprises Offices (Flats 1 & 2), the Mayoral Parlours and the Vaults at the Town Hall.

HEREFORD CITY COUNCIL

Precep

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. Analysis of the precept over the Expenditure estimates is as follows: -