Agenda item

            (Mr. T. Salmon, Director of Corporate Services, attended in connection with this item.)

            The Committee considered a report which had been prepared by the Director of Corporate Services in respect of the Estimates of Revenue Expenditure for the Year 2008/2009.  A copy of that section of the report in so far as it applied specifically to the Development Committee is set out hereunder:

      “A spending limit of £23,796,450 is recommended for the Development Department in respect of the financial year 2008/09.  Excluding capital charges of £1,326,950 this represents an increase of 10.64% over last year.

The main budgetary intentions of the Department for next year are set out below:

      In line with other Departments, increased costs of £213,840 must be borne in respect of superannuation.  Capital charges have reduced from £1,422,710 in 2007/08 to £1,326,950 in 2008/09. 

      The National Agreement on Single Status is now effective. As the actual consequence of changing Terms and Conditions of employment are now known, an additional £214,500 has been added to the Estimates of the Waterfront Hall.

      There are a number of areas where significant change has occurred from last year.

      The majority of the annual tourism budget continues to be ‘contracted out’ to the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau for marketing Belfast and providing information to visitors at the Belfast Welcome Centre and Tourist Information Centres at the City and International Airports.  The Council has agreed to uplift its funding of the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau.  The impact of this decision on the Estimates is almost £500,000.

      The Department will also incur increased costs of £190,800 for a number of new posts. Of this sum £75,000 relates to Policy Officer and European Officer posts which are no longer funded by the new LED Plan. To support the implementation of SNAP a new Citystats Officer is required at a cost of £39,100. This is a statistician post and is required to validate and quality assure the internal data which will be input into the Citystats software. An additional £36,700 is included for a Public Arts post to develop the Council’s capacity in the areas of Public Art and Festivals. An additional £40,000 is required within the unit to provide for the transfer of the EU Officer budget from Health & Environmental Services and the creation of a third EU Officer Post to work on a joint basis with Corporate Services.

      An additional £50,000 has been included to further promote and establish Open Air Markets within the City.

      There are a number of areas of growth within the Departmental budget.

      The Tall Ships 2009 event will require £1.1m of funding over the next two years. Funding of £400,000 is included in the 2008/09 budget. The Civic Events programme includes an additional £100,000 for the World Irish Dancing Championships. Further growth of £100,000 is also included with regard a Policy and Resources Committee decision in March 2007 to support the Nomadic Restoration Fund.

      With the Waterfront Hall and Ulster Hall now fully operational after closures in 2007/08, the Department has estimated additional income of £122,000 and £42,000 respectively.

      The Department will make a contribution of £49,900 to the efficiency programme in 2008/09.  Efficiency savings will be made as follows:

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      Belfast City Council like all other Local Authorities across the country is faced with the constant pressure of balancing increasing demands against ever decreasing resources and 2008/2009 will be no exception.

      A major effort has been made by all concerned to ensure that the estimates presented are meaningful, realistic, and correlate closely with the key tasks and activities within the Corporate Plan.

      On 4 February 2008 the estimates of the various Council Departments and Committees will be approved and adopted.  In due course a full copy of the Corporate Plan incorporating a summary of the financial information will be distributed to each Member of Council.

      My thanks are due to all for the continued co-operation and assistance which I have received over the past months in what has been a long and exhausting exercise to compile the Revenue Estimates.

DECISION REQUIRED:

1.   To approve the undernoted Estimates of the Development Committee for the year commencing 1 April 2008.

DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

REVENUE ESTIMATES 2008/09

DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

MAIN ITEMS OF ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE 2008/09

            The Director of Corporate Services outlined the factors which had been taken into consideration in the preparation of the Estimates and highlighted the increased costs across a number of areas which had contributed to a Departmental increase of 10.6% from the previous year.

            After discussion, the Committee approved the Estimates of Revenue Expenditure for the Year 2008/2009 as submitted in respect of the Development Committee.