Issue - meetings

The purpose of the report is for this Committee to consider and recommend its revenue budget for inclusion in the Council’s overall 2024/25 revenue budget. These recommendations will be submitted to the Policy and Finance Committee on 8 February 2024 when it considers the overall revenue and capital budgets for 2024/25 so recommendations can be made to a Special Meeting of the Council on 21 February 2024 regarding the budgets to be set and level of Council Tax for the District for 2024/25.

The Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer presented his annual budget report which was asking the Committee to consider and recommend its revenue budget for inclusion in the Council’s overall 2024/25 revenue budget as set out in Appendices A and B of the report.  The recommendations would firstly be submitted to the Policy & Finance Committee on 8 February 2024 which would consider the overall revenue and capital budgets for 2024/25 so that recommendations could be made to a Special Meeting of the Council on 21 February 2024 regarding the budgets to be set and level of Council Tax for the district for 2024/25.

The Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer in providing some background to the report stated that forecasting remained problematic due to ongoing inflationary pressures and the volatility around various other external factors affecting the economy and therefore budgets had been compiled using the best information available.

Members’ attention was drawn to the fact that the net change in the revenue budget between 2022/24 and 2024/25 represented an increase of £94k and the key changes had been set out in Paragraph 4.4 of the report with the headline items being salary inflation and property cost increases. The gross total of increases had been offset by savings items as detailed in Paragraph 4.5 totalling £56k. It was confirmed that there were no new capital schemes in the programme, however, further information on this would be provided as part of the next agenda item when the Committee would receive its Budget Monitoring Quarter 3 Report.

              Having had the recommendations in the report proposed by Councillor Walsh and seconded by Councillor Stanley,

            The Committee

                        RESOLVED – That

(1)  It agrees the 2024/25 Revenue Budget as illustrated in Appendix A of the report; and

(2)  Agrees the 2024/25 Capital Programme as illustrated in Appendix B of the report.

The Committee also

            RECOMMEND TO THE POLICY & FINANCE COMMITTEE

That the Revenue Budget for the Economy Committee be included in the overall General Fund Budget when the Policy & Finance Committee considers the overall budgets at its meeting on 8 February 2024.