Agenda item

The Council considered a report of the Corporate Director of Resources which provided information on the robustness of the estimates and the adequacy of reserves in the Council’s Budget for 2024/25 (for copy see file of Minutes).

Councillor Marshall asked the Corporate Director of Resources to outline the process should Council not agree the budget. The Corporate Director of Resources explained that firstly, the Council would need to be clear on the reasons why the budget was not agreed and in doing so, charge the Cabinet with reconsidering their proposals. A contingency plan discussed with the Monitoring Officer would result in a Cabinet meeting in one week’s time and a Special County Council meeting to be convened on 8 March 2024.

Resolved:

That the Council have regard to the statement when approving the budget and the level of Council Tax for 2024/25.

The Chair reminded Council that under Paragraph 14.6 of the Council Procedure Rules recorded votes would take place for each of the budget and council tax items.

Councillor C Hood, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Adult and Health Services Moved a Motion without Notice that Agenda Item Nos. 10 and 11 be considered together as they were inextricably linked. The Motion was Seconded by Councillor S McDonnell and agreed by Council.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised Council that considering the two items together impacted on the length of time that Members could speak.  The proposer and seconder of the Motion and all Group Leaders would have 10 minutes. Councillor R Bell, although a Group Leader, would be seconding the budget in his capacity as Deputy Leader and therefore could speak for 6 minutes. All other speakers would have 3 minutes and the Leader would then have a 6 minute right of reply.  The deadline for amendments was noon on 23 February 2024 and none had been submitted.