Decision details

Cabinet:

1)    NOTED the year end forecast and financial position for the General Fund and Special Expenses for 2024/25.

2)    RECOMMENDED that Council approves the revenue budget  for 2025/26 for General and Special Expenses, including proposed growth, as set out in Appendices A, B, C and D and summarised in the report at section 4.4; 

3)    RECOMMENDED that Council approves an overall Band D council tax increase of 2.99%, with the individual Band D council tax levels across each fund set out in the report at paragraph 4.4.5;

4)    RECOMMENDED that Council delegates authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Director for Corporate Services to access the Corporate Priorities Reserve to fund any of the approved growth items where UKSPF cannot be used due to not meeting the funding criteria;

5)    RECOMMENDED that Council delegates authority to the Director for Housing and Communities in consultation with the Director for Corporate Services to access the reserves up to £100k to fund the one off costs of preparing for the implementation of food waste collection and recycling reforms;

6)    RECOMMENDED that Council delegates authority to Director for Corporate Services in consultation with the Director for Housing and Communities to approve a supplementary estimate to support any ongoing additional revenue costs of providing up to five additional waste collection vehicles and delivery of a food waste collection service;

7)    RECOMMENDED that Council notes that the Council’s employee establishment will be updated in line with any changes arising from approval of any of the growth proposals set out in Appendices A and B; 

8)    RECOMMENDED that Council approves that any current year surplus/deficit on general expenses at 31 March 2025 be met by transfers to or from the Corporate Priorities Reserve in order to maintain the working balance at its agreed level of £1m; 

9)    RECOMMENDED that Council approves that any current year surplus/deficit for Special Expenses Melton Mowbray at 31 March 2025 be transferred to/from the Special Expenses Reserve thereby bringing the actual working balance back to the target £50k;

10) RECOMMENDED that Council notes the changes made to the risk categorisation of budgets as set out in Appendix 1 at paragraph 4.6.2 and Appendix F.