Agenda of Finance Policy Committee

Finance Policy Committee 2 June 2015

2.1 Statement of Bank Balances as at 19 May 2015

TRIM REFERENCE: 2015/1319

AUTHOR: Geoffrey Hamilton, Cost Clerk

EXECUTIVE Summary

Council operates one Bank Account and is required to carry out a Bank Reconciliation at the end of each month. As at 19 May 2015 the Cash Book Balance was $152,336.30

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

The recommendation in this report relates to the Delivery/Operational Plan strategy “1.2 Our City - Information and advice provided for the decision-making process will be succinct, reasoned, accurate, timely and balanced”.

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

That the information provided in the report by the Cost Clerk on Statement of Bank Balances as at 19 May 2015 be acknowledged.

further considerations

Consideration has been given to the recommendation’s impact on Council’s service delivery; image and reputation; political; environmental; health and safety; employees; stakeholders and project management; and no further implications or risks have been identified.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

STATEMENT OF GENERAL FUND BANK BALANCES AS AT 19 MAY 2015
		Ticketek
	General	Suspense

Opening Cash Book Balance 20/4/15 Debit/(Credit)	74,541.51	7,740.71

Add Deposits	31,333,403.52	60,210.42

Less Payments	-29,480,608.73	-65,016.36

Add/(Less) Money Market at Call Account Movement	-1,775,000.00

Closing Cash Book Balance 18/5/15 Debit/(Credit)	152,336.30	2,934.77

Balance as per Bank Statement	1,928,365.39	2,934.77

Add Outstanding Deposits	-1,622,769.77

Less Outstanding Cheques	-153,259.32

Add/(Less) Bank Adjustments

Balance as per Closing Cash Book Balance above Debit/(O'drawn)	152,336.30	2,934.77


Legal Overdraft limit all Funds = $20,673,000
Overdraft arranged at bank all funds $ 1,000,000

Finance Policy Committee 2 June 2015

2.2 Combined Rates and Charges Interim Reconciliation as at 19 May 2015

TRIM REFERENCE: 2015/1338

AUTHOR: John Kennedy, Senior Revenue Officer - Rates

EXECUTIVE Summary

The following tables and graphs provide details of Rates, Water, Sewer and Garbage Charges raised and collected up to the 4^th quarter of the 2014/15 rating year.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

That the information provided in the report by the Senior Revenue Officer Rates on Combined Rates and Charges Interim Reconciliation as at 19 May 2015 be acknowledged.

further considerations

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

The following report gives details of the combined rates and charges reconciliation as at 19 May 2015. As at that date $9,054,058.36 or 16.99% remains outstanding. As at 20 May 2014, 16.86% of the amount payable remained outstanding.

Debt Collection - Rates

Debt recovery for overdue rates for the 2014/15 year remains satisfactory. A total of 1,004 accounts with a value of $1,531,701.88 have been referred to Council’s collection agents to be issued with 7 day letters of demand for rates accounts with arrears balances greater than $800.00.

As at 19 May 2015, 755 accounts with payments totalling $926,479.64 have been finalised after being issued with 7 day letters in 2014/15. The remaining 249 accounts with a debt value of $605,222.24 have current action. Of those accounts, 187 have been placed on hold and/or payment arrangements negotiated for arrears balances.

A further 60 accounts with a debt balance of $139,872.38 have progressed in the debt recovery process. The remaining 2 accounts with a debt balance of $10,579.79 are currently being reviewed for issue of Statement of Liquidated Claim following non-payment of the third rates instalment.

General Rates	Ordinary Rates YTD 4th Quarter
	2013/2014	2014/2015
	$	$
Balance Outstanding	5,623,952.70	5,937,133.62


Sewer Charges	Sewer Charges YTD 4th Quarter
	2013/2014	2014/2015
	$	$
Balance Outstanding	1,279,443.93	1,472,919.83


Water Charges	Water Charges YTD 4th Quarter
	2013/2014	2014/2015
	$	$
Balance Outstanding	918,537.23	1,013,849.09


Garbage and Recycling Charges	Garbage Charges YTD 4th Quarter
	2013/2014	2014/2015
	$	$
Balance Outstanding	1,232,124.50	1,220,020.31

Finance Policy Committee 2 June 2015

2.3 Strategic Policy Review

TRIM REFERENCE: 2015/1154

AUTHOR: Michelle Catlin, Manager Administration and Governance

EXECUTIVE Summary

This report continues the review of Council’s Strategic Policy Register. A number of policies have recently been on exhibition and are recommended for adoption.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Council’s Strategic Policies are being reviewed and amended to ensure ongoing compliance with legislation and industry best practice. Policies of Council are of two types – Strategic Policies are determined by Council, and relate to Councillors and the broader community. These policies require public exhibition (if new or include significant changes) and adoption by Council. Operational Policies are determined and implemented by the General Manager, and relate to staff and the operations of the organisation.

In reviewing a number of the current Strategic Policies, it is clear that they should be Operational, or are incorporated in Council’s suite of Integrated Planning and Reporting documents. As the review of policies continues, it is expected that a number of former Strategic Policies will be recommended to Council for deletion.

Recommendation

1 That Council exhibit Strategic Policy ST010 – Code of Conduct and ST002 Central West Libraries.

2 That Council adopt Strategic Policies - ST134 – Vehicle Access – Orange Airport and ST107 Outdoor Dining Areas.

further considerations

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Policy for Exhibition

The key changes proposed are set out below:

Policy

Summary of amendments/comments

ST010 – Code of Conduct

In the section relating to gifts and benefits, the following clarification has been added:

“The following provisions apply equally to gifts and benefits offered to individual Council delegates, and to Council Services.”

This has been added to ensure a consistent process is applied to offers of gifts to Council Services eg Childcare Centres.

Minor formatting changes have been made throughout the document.

ST002 – Central West Libraries

This policy is based on guidelines provided by the Library Council of New South Wales and is framed with reference to the Library Act 1939 and the Library Regulation 2010.

Policies for Adoption

Vehicle Access – Orange Airport

At its meeting held on 7 April 2015, Council resolved to exhibit Strategic Policy - ST134 – Vehicle Access – Orange Airport.

The exhibition period has closed, with no submissions received. The policy is therefore presented for adoption.

Outdoor Dining Areas

At its meeting held on 17 December 2014 Council resolved to exhibit Strategic Policy ST107 – Outdoor Dining Areas. This exhibition has been concluded, and submissions received are attached.

The submissions made by Ageing and Access Community Committee and the Guide Dog Association are generally consistent with the submission raised by the former Access Committee when the Policy was reviewed in December 2013. The Committee members have expressed concerns regarding the placement of street furniture adjacent to the building as opposed to the kerb as this inhibits visually impaired people who use the shop front as a guide. Previous consideration by the Committee on the placement of the street furniture was that the placement of street furniture adjacent to the building forced people with a disability, including able bodied users of the footpath to travel without any protection from the elements from awnings attached to those buildings. For this reason the Policy was reviewed to advise that street furniture would only be permitted to be placed adjacent to a building in exceptional circumstances.

The options for Council are to retain these provisions or to alter the Policy to specifically prohibit the placement of street furniture against a building. It is considered that the current Policy gives Council the ability to allow street furniture to be placed adjacent to the building where it can be justified but highlighting that it may only be done under exceptional circumstances and this option is recommended.

The other issue raised by the Ageing and Access Committee and by Mr Anderson is the placement of A Frame billboards on the public footpaths by shop owners. The Outdoor Dining Area Policy prohibits the placement of billboards and the sale and display of goods on public footpaths within the Central Business District (CBD). Both submissions raise the issue of the impact that the placement of articles on the footpath upon pedestrian traffic particularly upon persons with a disability. The Ageing and Access Committee make reference to the moratorium that Council has in relation to advertising signage. However, Council has not included A frame billboards in the moratorium due to the potential for public liability claims to be made against both business owners and Council should a person suffer an injury or damage to property from a billboard or article. Council staff are about to commence a program of requiring the removal of articles from public footpaths in the CBD.

Mr Anderson also makes submission in relation to the operators of the outdoor dining activities placing their outdoor furniture outside the area approved by Council. This practice is not uncommon in particular areas of the Summer Street footpath, where there is a high level of pedestrian use, and the width available for pedestrian traffic, particularly people using mobility vehicles is less than that required by the subject Policy. Council staff are investigating the use of permanent markers on the footpath so that business owners and Council enforcement staff are able to easily establish whether outdoor furniture is placed within the approved area. This will allow Council staff to take appropriate action so as to require compliance with approvals and licences issued by Council.

Mr and Mrs Glasby’s submission makes suggestion that Council should consider providing, at Council’s cost, permanent outdoor structures as provided in other urban areas and as shown in their attached submission. It is suggested that Council could charge a rent for such structures. General observation is that such structures are permitted by other Council’s where there are a number of food outlets adjacent to each other, that there is sufficient room to provide such structures whilst providing adequate pedestrian access and that they are mostly within tourist hubs. Council did consider an application to provide a permanent structure in association with the Occidental Hotel a number of years ago but this was not supported by Council. Generally, it is considered that there is insufficient room within the footpaths within the CBD to construct permanent structures and that any structure built in isolation is likely to detract from the visual amenity of an area.

Amendments that have been made to the Policy as a result of exhibition include:

Guidelines

1.3 Street furniture must not obstruct pedestrian traffic or emergency egress from any premises and the 2.5m wide pedestrian corridor shall be maintained in Summer Street for use by pedestrians, users of mobility scooters and the like at all times (addition of bold text).

1.4 Street furniture is required to be located on the footpath within the property boundary frontage and between 500 (not 800)mm from the kerb and 2.5 (not 2.2)m from the front boundary of the property.

Confirmation that the licence agreement for approved Outdoor Dining Areas is for a two year period.

Typographical errors identified have been corrected in this Policy.

Attachments

1 FOR EXHIBITION - ST010 - Strategic Policy - Code of Conduct, D15/13628 ⇩

2 FOR EXHIBITION - ST010 - Strategic Policy - Code of Conduct ATTACHMENT, D15/13627 ⇩

3 FOR EXHIBITION - ST010 - Strategic Policy - Code of Conduct - Procedures for Administration, D15/13626 ⇩

4 FOR EXHIBITION - ST002 - Strategic Policy - Central West Libraries, D14/25186 ⇩

5 FOR ADOPTION - ST134 - Vehicle Access Orange Airport Policy and Procedure, D15/8160 ⇩

6 FOR ADOPTION - ST107 - Strategic Policy - Outdoor Dining Areas and Procedure, D15/8222 ⇩

7 Submission - ST107 - Strategic Policy - Outdoor Dining Areas - Ageing and Access Community Committee (PDF for InfoCouncil), D15/8229 ⇩

8 Submission - ST107 - Strategic Policy - Outdoor Dining Areas - Guide Dogs NSW/ACT (PDF for InfoCouncil), D15/8231 ⇩

9 Submission - Review Outdoor Dining Policy - Scrumptious on Summer Cafe - Suzanne Glasby, D15/8466 ⇩