Decision details

Consideration was given to the revised report of the Head of Finance, Procurement & Commercial Services, as contained on pages 559 to 580 of the Book of Reports, which sought to set a balanced Revenue Budget for the forthcoming financial year 2024/25 and presented the updated Medium-Term Financial Forecast (MTFF) for the following financial years 2025/26 to 2026/27, noting the latest forecast budget gap of £1.533m, comprising:

·       £1.803m in 2025/26

·       (£0.270)m in 2026/27

and informed of the reserves position as at 31 March 2023 and the forecast position to 2026/27.

A Motion to agree the recommendations in the revised report, was moved and seconded.

In accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, voting on Motion was recorded as follows:

FOR:          Councillors: Aldridge, Anderson, Burnside, Coughlan, Cummins, Dowling, Fennell, Fillis, Finch, Fowler, Furey, Gagen, N Hennessy, P Hennessy, Hogan, Lawson, Lloyd, Molloy, Nixon,

G Owen, Parlour, Patel, Pryce-Roberts, West and Yates (TWENTY FIVE)

AGAINST: Councillors: Bailey, Blundell, Daniels, de Freitas, Gordon, Hesketh, Howard, Juckes, Mrs Marshall, Rigby, Webster,

D Westley, Mrs Westley, Whittington and Witter (FIFTEEN)

The Motion was CARRIED.

RESOLVED:

A.    That the General Revenue Account (GRA) budget for 2024/25, set out in the revised report, be approved.

B.    That the latest GRA Medium-Term Financial Forecast (MTFF) budget gap for 2025/26 to 2026/27, as set out in the report, be noted.

C.    That the latest GRA reserves position as at 31 March 2023 and forecast to 2026/27 be noted and the GRA reserves policy be approved.

D.    That delegated authority be given to the Chief Operating Officer and the Corporate Director to take all necessary action to implement the changes resulting from the budget proposals.

E.    That delegated authority be given to the Head of Finance, Procurement and Commercial Services (Section 151 Officer) to apply an annual inflationary increase to fees and charges.