Financial Report for Annual Parish Meeting 10 March 2003

At this meeting we look at what happened in the accounts for the year ended 31^st March 2002.

You should have a copy of the accounts which have been approved by the council and our internal auditor but not yet been signed off by the external auditor. The figures we are interested in are those in the left hand column headed 01/02. The right hand column shows the figures for the previous year for comparison. I'll go through the figures quickly. They are net of VAT.

The total income was £15103. The main item is the precept of £13,000. That is the amount the householders of the village contribute via the council tax to the running of the parish. The other main items are interest, mostly on money the council has saved towards replacement or refurbishment of the village hall, cemetery fees and a gift from a parishioner towards the cost of refurbishing the grindstone.

Now the expenses. General administration £2938 includes the clerk's pay and expenses, insurance of the property owned by the Council, the audit fee of £337, and the cost of the free copy each month for each household of Hill and Valley. Open spaces £2686 is the cost of maintenance of the cemetery and the playground, grass cutting on the football field and some small items like the running costs of our street light. The £664 on the village hall was grants of £550 towards the new china and tables and legal fees in connection with the community project.

The difference between the income and the expenditure is the operating income of £8777. That is before savings towards replacing the village hall. £5,000 was saved and with interest on the savings the total transferred to the Village Hall Fund was £5864 bringing the total saved to a bit over £22,000. A further £5,000 was saved in the current year and the council has budgeted to save another £5,000 next year. With accumulated interest that will bring the total to around £34,000.

The next two pages are explanatory notes.

May I conclude by thanking our Clerk, Paul Jarrett for his excellent work in keeping our financial records which made it easy to prepare the accounts. The Finance Committee has looked at his work and is confident that it is of a high standard.

I will be pleased to answer any questions.

Jeremy Barber
Chairman