Purpose

The Council has a statutory responsibility to
set a council tax and budget in advance of the commencement of the
new financial year (1 April to 31 March). During the year the
Council will review its spending plans, consider options to amend
spending to meet new priorities and consider comments received as
part of the consultation process.

Content

RESOLVED

That Cabinet approves that
Appendix C on page 136 be replaced with the revised version of the
Appendix C contained within the
Supplementary agenda on page 9.

That the Full Council be
recommended to approve the following items regarding the 2025/26
Budget:

a)            
the proposed 2025/26 General Fund Budget which
includes a £140k contribution to general fund reserve as set
out in section 6 and Appendix A of report
FIN/683;

b)            
the proposed 2025/26 Housing Revenue Account Budget
as set out in Appendix B of the report of report
FIN/683;

c)            
the 2025/26 and future years Capital Programme and
funding as set out in section 9 and Appendix D of the report of
report
FIN/683;

d)            
the transfers between reserves as outlined in
section 10 of the report of report
FIN/683;

e)            
that the Council’s share of Council Tax for
2025/26 be increased by 2.99% an increase of £6.94 from
£232.10 to £239.04 for a band D property as set out in
paragraph 5.14 of report
FIN/683;

f)              
the Pay Policy Statement for 2025/2026 as outlined
in paragraph 11.4 and Appendix G of the report
FIN/683;

g)            
and notes the results and commentary of the public
budget consultation process as summarised in Appendix H of report

FIN/683;

 
NB -
From by Head of Governance, People and Performance. The updated
Appendix C has now been included within the online version of
report FIN/683.

Reasons for the Recommendations
 
To provide adequate funding for
the proposed level of services and to fulfil the statutory
requirement to set a Budget and Council Tax and report on the
robustness of estimates.