Agenda item

Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 places a duty to declare an interest on any councillor who is two or more months in arrears with their Council Tax payments if they attend any meeting involved in setting the Council tax rate for the local authority. They must abstain from any vote involved in the setting of the Council tax rate until they are no longer in arrears.

The Elected Mayor of Middlesbrough and the Director of Finance submitted a report, the purpose of which was to seek approval of the Mayor’s proposed budget and to enable the Council to set the Council Tax in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended by the Localism Act 2011, on or before 11 March 2024. Prior to setting the Council Tax, Members were required to consider and agree to accept Exceptional Financial Support of up to £13.4m offered ‘in-principle’ by DLUHC to enable the consideration and approval of the Mayor’s proposed budget. Provided the Council accepted this Council was also asked to approve a 2024/25 revenue budget of £143.190 million and Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for the period 2024/25 to 2026/27 following the confirmation of the Local Government Finance Settlement and those matters found in paragraph 1.3 of the report.

The Mayor presented the report.

The Chair invited Members to comment on the report.

Following a discussion on the content of the report, the Chair invited the Monitoring Officer to conduct a vote on the recommendation found at paragraph 2.1 of the report in relation to in principle offer of Exceptional Financial Support totalling £13.4 million details of which were contained in Appendix A of the report. 

ORDERED that Council accept the DLUHC ‘in-principle’ offer of Exceptional Financial Support of up to £13.4m and associated terms and conditions as set out in Appendix A of the report.

The Chair invited the Monitoring Officer to conduct a recorded vote on the recommendations contained in Appendix B and C of the report.

The result of the vote was as follows:

Votes for: (25)

Mr C Cooke (Elected Mayor) Councillors Banks, Blades, Branson, Clynch, J Cooke, Dean, Ewan, Furness, Gavigan, Hussain, Kabuye, Lewis, Nicholson, Nugent, Romaine, Rostron, Ryles, M Storey, P Storey, Thompson, Tranter, Uddin, JA Walker, N Walker.

Votes against: (16)

Councillors Cooper, Coupe, Hill, Hurst, Hubbard, Jackson, Jones, Livingstone, Mason, McCabe, Morrish, J Platt, S Platt, Saunders, Smiles, Wilson.

Abstentions: (5) Councillors Davison, Grainge, McClintock, McConnell, Young. 

Following the vote, it was ORDERED that Council:

1.    Accept the DLUHC ‘in-principle’ offer of Exceptional Financial Support the recommendations as submitted in the 2024/25 Revenue Budget, Medium Term Financial Plan, and Council Tax setting report to Executive on 28 February 2024 as set out in Appendix B paragraphs 2.1 to 2.7 be approved.

2.    Approves the Prudential Indicators and limits for 2024/25 to 2026/27, Treasury Management Strategy for 2024/25, and the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy for 2024/25, and the Approved Authorised Limit for External Debt of £372m for the 2024/25 financial year as shown in the separate Prudential Indicators and Treasury Management Strategy 2024/25 report to Executive on 28 February 2024 as set out at Appendix C paragraph 2 of the report.

3.    Approve the Council Tax for the year 2024/25 in accordance with s30 to 38 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as amended as set out in paragraphs 4.17 to 4.24 of the report.

4.    Delegate authority to the Director of Finance (s151 Officer) to adjust the Corporate Contingency Budget to account for any further variations that may arise in finalising technical calculations.