Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Colella, Taylor and Whittaker.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting due to take place on 14^th February 2024 will be published in a supplementary papers pack to this agenda.

The minutes from the Cabinet meeting held on 14^th February 2024 were submitted for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED that the minutes from the Cabinet meeting held on 14^th February 2024 be approved as a true and accurate record.

The minutes from the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 16^th January 2024 were submitted for Members’ consideration. It was noted that there were no outstanding recommendations from the Board included in the minutes.

RESOLVED to note the minutes from the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 16^th January 2024.

This report will be published in a supplementary papers pack to this agenda.

The Deputy Chief Executive presented the Council Tax Resolutions 2024/25 for Cabinet’s consideration.

In doing so, Members were informed that the report sought formal approval of the Council Tax Resolutions 2024/25. The report took into account the spending requirements of Bromsgrove District Council, Worcestershire County Council (WCC), the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia (PCC), Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority and the various Parish Councils. It was reported that this report was also due to be considered by Full Council at its meeting on 21^st February 2024.

For unparished areas within the District, the overall Council Tax Band D amount was confirmed at £2,163.64 of which Bromsgrove District Council received £250.00, WCC received £1,538.92, the PCC received £277.50, and Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority received £97.22.

The report also included information regarding the Council’s and Parish Councils’ requirements, the Council’s tax amount for its main precepting authorities, the increases for each of the precepting authorities for 2024/25 and the parish precepts for 2024/25.

Following the presentation of the report, Members thanked Finance Officers for their hard work in compiling such a complex report.

Members also briefly discussed the increase in Parish Precepts for 2024/25 and some of the areas that were the potential cause of these increases.

RECOMMENDED that Council approve:

1)    the calculation for the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2024/25 (excluding Parish precepts) as £9,499,346.19.

2)    That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2024/25 in accordance with sections 31 to 36 of the Act: 

(a)      £46,946,051.69 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (2) of the Act (taking into account all precepts issued to it by Parish Councils) (i.e., Gross expenditure)                

(b)      £37,446,705.50 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (3) of the Act. (i.e., Gross income)            

(c)      £10,723,413.69 being the amount by which the aggregate of 1.2.2(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 1.2.2(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31A (4) of the Act, as its Council Tax requirement for the year. (Item R in the formula in Section 31B of the Act). 

(d)      £282.21 being the amount at 1.2.2 (c) above (Item R), all divided by Item T (1.1(a) above), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year (including Parish precepts).                

(e)      £1,224,067.50 being the aggregate amount of all special items (Parish precepts) referred to in Section 34 (1) of the Act (as per the attached Schedule 3).

(f)       £250.00 being the amount at 1.2.2 (d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 1.2.2 (e) above by Item T (1.1 (a) above), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34 (2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86/23

There was no Urgent Business on this occasion.