Issue - meetings

The report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

The Mayor advised that in the interest of trying to complete the business of the meeting, as Chairman she had been asked to consider reducing the time for speeches from 10 minutes to five minutes for the mover of the report, and three minutes for the responder and she was happy to approve the request. 

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Customer Access, Councillor Moore presented the report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services outlining the Council’s position on Council Tax for the year 2023/24.

Councillor Moore confirmed that there was a statutory duty to approve the Council Tax, with the various precepts and amounts detailed in the report and was happy to recommend it for approval.

Councillor Cottee seconded the recommendation and reserved the right to speak.

Councillor Gaunt advised that the Labour Group was concerned that the Council Tax was effectively being raised for everyone this year, it was simply that this was being covered for Bands A to D through funding, and although it was good to help those residents, there was a concern that this rise would be “baked in” for next year, when the funding disappeared and would then rise year on year. 

Councillor Jones stated that in order to keep the Council’s budget in order during very inflationary times, the Liberal Democrat Group understood and supported the reasoning for increasing Council Tax by 2% rather than by the full amount possible.  Councillor Jones reiterated previous comments that the increase for Bands A to D had been offset by Government funding and Council money, and it would be interesting to see what happened next year following the local elections.  Councillor Jones stated that he would like to see more grades in the ratings system, to ensure that costs were reduced for the poorest and increased for those in higher value properties.

Councillor R Mallender and Councillor Thomas advised that their Groups would be supporting the recommendation.

Councillor Moore thanked Councillors for their support, acknowledged the comments made by the Labour Group and advised that the budget had not been written for next year, what would happen in the future was unknown, and it was therefore impossible to make any predictions.

It was RESOLVED that the Council Tax Resolution for 2023/24 as detailed in Appendix A to the report (link attached) be approved 2023/24 Council Tax Resolution