PADDOCK WOOD TOWN COUNCIL
The Podmore Building, St Andrew’s Road, Paddock Wood, TN12 6HT
Telephone: 01892 837373
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE HELD on Monday 10th October 2022 at the Day Centre, Commercial Road, at 6.30 p.m.
PRESENT: Cllr M Flashman, in the Chair
Cllr H Atkins, R. Moon
IN ATTENDANCE: Mrs N Reay, Town Clerk
Mrs T Maxwell, RFO
APOLOGIES: Cllrs R Atkins, R. Turk, C. Williams
F10 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no declarations of interest.
F11 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
The minutes of the meeting held on 22nd June 2022 were APPROVED.
F12 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES
a) F5 – the RFO is continuing to review the electricity bills for the council
Electric Van – as reported at Full Council there are difficulties obtaining an electric van. Efforts are still be made to obtain one.
b) F8 – the cash which had been found on Town Council property had donated to the Food Bank at the request of the person who found it.
F13 ANNUAL AUDIT
The Council’s Annual Governance Audit Review has been returned with no comments from the Auditor’s PKF Littlejohn.
The required notices were placed on the notice boards and website.
The RFO was congratulated.
F14 BUDGET 2022/23
Members noted the 6 monthly budget figures. The RFO advised the following:
- Costs for utilities and supplies were increasing, in some cases by 10%
- All electricity supplies were now on Smart meter except for St Andrews Hall. This site had been placed on the waiting list and the existing meter was being read monthly
- The work identified by the Legionella inspection had been carried out on all sites except the Elm Tree Pavilion.
- She was challenging the business rates for the Green Lane Pavilion going forward.
- There had been vandalism in some of the play areas which had resulted in high repair costs
- Although some costs centres had overspent, overall, the expenditure was within budget.
F15 BANK RECONCILIATION
Members noted the bank reconciliation
F16 RESERVES
Members noted the reserve balance
F17 BANK SIGNATORIES
Cllrs Mackie and H Atkins have been added to the bank signatory mandate. There are a total of 7 bank councillors who are signatories:
Cllrs H Atkins, M Flashman, S Hamilton, A Mackie, R. Moon. R Turk, C Williams.
It was discussed that sometimes authorisations were not happening in a timely fashion. The RFO also advised that from an auditing point of view the authorisations should be carried out by different councillors on a regular basis.
It was agreed that a timetable should be drawn up with different councillors being asked to carry out the authorisations each month. 2 ut of 4 in one month and 2 out of three in the following month. This will mean councillor will only be asked to authorise payments every 2 months. Substitutes will also be available.
F18 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be held on Monday 28th November 2022
NICHOLA REAY
Clerk to the Council
4th October 2022