ALLOWANCES, council tax rises, budget cuts and senior management pay will be on the agenda at a council meeting today.

Darlington Borough Council (DBC) will discuss financial and budgetary matters at a special meeting, taking place at the Town Hall from 6pm.

Councillors are expected to decide whether or not to approve phase one of DBC’s controversial Medium Term Financial Plan, which includes a host of potentially devastating cuts.

If controversial recommendations are approved by councillors at tonight's meeting, the proposals therein will be subject to a lengthy public consultation.

They will also set the council tax rates for 2016/17, with an increase of 3.99 per cent recommended by officers.

The proposed increase will result in a band D council tax bill of £1,313.75 if approved by the council.

A potential increase in councillors’ allowances will be addressed, just weeks after calls were made to freeze rates.

Councillors will discuss an independent report prepared by an expert panel that recommends an increase in basic allowances from the current rate of £8,027 a year to £8,285, meaning an annual increase of £12,900.

If recommendations in the report are approved, payments to Vice Chairs will decrease by £6,426 a year.

Council papers released ahead of the meeting state: “The panel, in making its recommendations, has taken into account the current economic climate both generally, where many residents of Darlington Borough are facing an uncertain economic future, and internally where the council is facing reduced central government funding.

“The panel has also taken the view that it would be reluctant to significantly increase the total spend on allowances and even a marginal increase in total spend would require strong evidence for the panel to make such a recommendation.”

At a recent meeting of DBC’s Cabinet, Dawn Taylor – representative for the Darlington Local Government branch of Unison – called a year on year increase in allowances unwise and said the money would be better spent elsewhere.

Tomorrow’s meeting will also address changes to the structure of senior management roles with proposed revisions including the deletion of the council’s assistant chief executive role and its assistant director of social care role.

In the revised structure, the Director of Children and Adult services will take over the responsibilities of the Director of Commissioning’s role, with the latter post being deleted following the retirement of Murray Rose.

Members of the public are entitled to attend tomorrow’s meeting.