The Director of Finance submitted a report seeking approval of the calculations for determining the Council Tax requirement for the year 2025/26, in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1992. The report also sought approval to set the Council Tax amounts for each property valuation band in the Borough including precepts from the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley and Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service.

The following motion was moved by Councillor Terry and seconded by Councillor Leng and CARRIED:

Resolved –

(1)           That the following amounts that have been calculated for the year 2025/26 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 be agreed:

(i)       £476,131,500 - Gross Revenue Expenditure, including transfers to reserves and any collection fund deficit, being the estimated aggregate expenditure of the Council in accordance with section 31A (2) of the Act;

(ii)      £349,997,200 - Gross Revenue Income, including transfers from reserves, general government grants and any collection fund surplus, being the estimated aggregate income of the Council for the items set out in section 31A (3) of the Act;

(iii)     £126,134,300 - Net Revenue Expenditure, being the amount by which the aggregate at (i) above exceeds the aggregate at (ii) above, calculated in accordance with section 31A (4) of the Act, as the Council’s Council Tax Requirement for the year (Item R in the formula in section 31A (4) of the Act);

(iv)     £2,117.52 - Reading Borough Council Band D Council Tax, being the amount at (iii) above (Item R) divided by the Council’s tax base 59,566.99 (Item T) calculated in accordance with section 31B (1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year, representing an increase of 4.99% in the Council’s own tax;

(2)           That the net tax base of 59,566.99 band D equivalent properties (being the gross tax base adjusted for an assumed collection rate) for 2025/26 was agreed by Council on 28 January 2025 be noted; and

(i)             that the band D charge for Reading Borough Council be £2,117.52 as shown in Table 2 of the report; and

(ii)           that, including the Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service and Thames Valley Police precepts, Council Tax by property valuation band be as set out in Table 3 of the report.