Agenda item

The Director of Finance and ICT introduced a report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, that proposed a Revenue Budget and Council Tax for 2024-25.

On the motion of Councillor S Spencer, duly seconded and in accordance with the Local Authority (Standing Orders)(England)(Amendment) Regulations 2014 a recorded vote was taken as follows:

For the motion:

Councillors Ainsworth, Ashton, Atkin, Barron, Cupit, A Dale, Flatley, Ford, M Foster, Gourlay, Grooby, Hart, Hickton, Hobson, Iliffe, Kemp, King, Lewis, Major, Moss, Murphy, Parkinson,  Patten, Renwick, Siddle, Smith, Spencer, Sutton, Swann, Taylor, Wharmby, Wilson and Woolley.

Against the motion:

Councillors Bingham, Burfoot, Fordham, Kinsella, Niblock and Rose.

Abstentions:

Councillors Allen, Bryan, Clarke, C Dale, Dixon, George, Gillott, Hayes, Haynes, Innes, Mihaly and Ramsey.

RESOLVED to:

1)    Note the details of the Autumn Statement 2023, Local Government Finance Settlement and other announcements as outlined in sections 3.3 and 3.4 of the report;

2)    Note the Government’s expectations about Council Tax levels for 2024-25 outlined in section 3.5 of the report;

3)    Approve the precepts as outlined in Section 3.5 and Appendix Four of the report;

4)    Approve that billing authorities are informed of Council Tax levels arising from the budget proposals as outlined in Section 3.5 and Appendix Four of the report;

5)    Approve the contingency to cover non-standard inflation as outlined in Section 3.7 of the report and that the contingency be allocated by the Director of Finance & ICT, as S151 Officer, once non-standard inflation has been agreed;

6)    Approve the service pressure items identified in Section 3.8 and Appendix Five of the report;

7)    Approve the increase to budgets for undeliverable prior year savings proposals as outlined in Section 3.9 of the report;

8)    Approve the level and allocation of budget savings as outlined in Section 3.10 and Appendix Six of the report;

9)    Note the comments of the Director of Finance & ICT, as S151 Officer, about the robustness of the estimates and adequacy of the reserves as outlined in Section 3.11 of the report;

10)                  Note the details of the Council’s consultation activity as outlined in Section 4 of the report;

11)                  Approve the Council Tax requirement of £410,111,128 which is calculated as follows:

£

12)                  Approve the use of the Revenue Contributions to Capital Expenditure Earmarked Reserve to provide one-off support to the 2024-25 Revenue Budget; and

13)                  Authorise the Director of Finance & ICT, as S151 Officer, to allocate cash limits amongst Cabinet portfolios; Executive Directors will then report to Cabinet on the revised Service Plans for 2024-25.