That Cabinet recommend to Council for approval:

a)    the council tax base of 71,999.97 Band D equivalents in 2024/25;

b)    an increase in core council tax for 2024/25 of 2.99%;

c)    an additional precept in respect of adult social care costs of 2% applied to council tax in 2024/25 resulting in a total council tax increase of 4.99%, increasing the band D charge from £1,786.61 to £1,875.76 for Herefordshire Council in 2024/25;

d)    the balanced 2024/25 revenue budget proposal totalling £207.7 million, subject to any amendments approved at the meeting, specifically the net spending limits for each directorate as at appendix C;

e)    delegates to the section 151 officer the power to make necessary changes to the budget arising from any variations in central government funding allocations via general reserves;

f)      the allocation of additional funding of £2.5 million announced in the Local Government Settlement in December 2023 to support strategic housing (£1.0 million), to reverse planned parking charge increases (£400k), an allocation of £300k to the Leominster Heritage Action Zone, removal of proposed savings in Community Wellbeing to reduce library hours (£55k), £56k to provide funding officer resource to identify external funding opportunities, £200k of funding to support the community and voluntary sector across Herefordshire and a £500k transfer to the Financial Resilience Reserve.

g)    the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2024/25 to 2027/28 at appendix A be approved;

h)    the Treasury Management Strategy at appendix D be approved; and

i)      the responses to scrutiny committee recommendations to follow in a supplementary paper to be approved;

j)      following the announcement by Government on 24 January of additional measures for local authorities, the allocation of £1,835k additional Social Care Grant to a Social Care Resilience Reserve and £945k increase in Rural Services Grant to provide additional funding for the lengthsman scheme (£250k), additional funding for drainage works across the county (£445k) and improvements to Public Rights of Way (£250k).