On behalf of the WPC, a statement from the Chairman on the Budget, Precept and Audit
At its meeting on 14 January 2018, the Council approved a budget and precept for 2019/20. Under normal conditions, this would have been a straightforward and happy process. We accomplished well what we set out to do last year. We are looking forward in 2019/20 to working together with the Scroll historians, the History Group and the WCLC to get the Heritage Hut renovated and operational. The playground on the Green is being repaired with a grant from SCDC and a comprehensive, multi-year plan for playground renovation has been created thanks to our new Safety Committee. We have sorted out nearly all our administrative and financial policies and procedures and have an excellent website where all this information is publicly available.
We set the precept last year at £23,000 to cover the budget and begin the process of rebuilding the reserves which had become depleted over many years, closer to the level recommended by the Suffolk Association of Local Councils (SALC) of 6-9 months of expenditures.
We were 100% on track to do this without any increase in the precept. Unfortunately, this was derailed because of the actions of three individuals who chose to lodge well over 100 objections to the Audit. The background to this is available in the Chairman’s Statement from November 2018 posted on the Walberswick website. It is the view of the Council that these objections do not meet the criteria for acceptance by the external auditor and, in the closed agenda item, the Council agreed to send documentation to the Auditors that provides ample evidence of this. Nevertheless, the outcome of the objectors’ activity will be to run up a potentially large external auditor bill that has to paid from the precept and reserves. We continue to do everything possible to limit this including spending many days preparing a detailed response to the auditor and making the arguments for proportionality in terms of the auditors’ time and cost as compared to any public benefit from responding to these objections. We hope through these actions to keep the situation manageable. We will not know, however, until the Auditor finishes, hopefully in February. We would never make any pretence of being perfect as a Council, but there is nothing, in our view, that justifies what is happening in terms of the vexatious objections and disproportionate costs that three individuals are putting on the Village. We believe that any fair-minded person would understand that subjecting a parish council to ceaseless interrogation and a litany of petty criticism cannot be a sensible way of either improving public service nor using public resources.
At the meeting, a 2019/20 budgeted expenditure of circa. £24,000, broken down by line item was approved. It is available on the website. This includes a potential cost of £5000 for the external auditor, should the objectors choose a similar approach next year. Without objections, the cost of the external audit is less than £300. Faced with this, and the potential that the auditor’s bill this year could erode the current reserves held by the Council, a precept of £27,000 (an increase of £4000) for 2019/20 was agreed. Every Councillor expressed dismay at having to take such an action, keenly aware of the injustice of having to raise the council tax bill for every family without any public good. Nevertheless, the Councillors accepted that it is our responsibility to set a precept to cover costs and deal responsibility with the situation with regard to the Council reserves. We also agreed to look at the situation again in the first half of February. If, by that time, we have clarity on the audit cost, and particularly if the auditor agrees with our arguments regarding the need for proportionality in their costs compared to any public benefit, we may be able to reduce the precept back to the 2018/19 level. But this is currently a big unknown.
This update is provided in response to requests from many villagers. If it is allowable, we will make public the content of the objections and the Council responses once the auditor finishes its work. We will also make public the final cost of the audit.
Finally, the Council deeply appreciates the support that so many people in the Village have given us. We could not do it without you. Thank you!