Wick common good fund facing £5200 'loss' as town hall utility costs emerge

A quarterly report on Wick common good fund has noted that it is likely to make a loss this year as the annual utility costs of the town hall have approached £20,000 including gas, electricity, water and rates.

The balance of the fund stood at £27,182 for usable reserves while unusable reserves represented by the investment properties and heritage assets of the fund held a value of £477,015.

However, expenditure to the tune of £25,600 is projected to be attributed to the fund during 2023/24 financial year and that will reduce the estimated usable reserves by £5200 at year end.

By far the largest part of that is the payment of utilities on the town hall until the year end consisting of a gas bill totalling £5185; electricity charges of £2145; water at £1294; and rates of £11,000 for a total of £19,624.

So far this year, rental income raised £1350 in the first quarter from the Valuation Joint Board with £7700 projected until the year end; invitation to pay car parking income made £990 and is expected to make £12,000 by the end of the year.

Expected expenditure included miscellaneous costs of £449 for legal, property, marketing and rent reviews which should rise to £1400 at the end of the year, while invitation to pay car parking costs will touch £2200 and staff costs will reach £2000.

The report to the Caithness committee stated that "when the budget was set for 2023/24 there was insufficient information to inform the setting of a property expenditure budget".

“It was noted that work would be required during 2023/24 to fully understand the running costs in relation to the Town Hall and therefore the level of budget required.

“The projected overspend on property costs now shown reflects the addition of utility bills for the Wick Town Hall.”

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