ST HELENS Council is to contribute more than £700,000 to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority's budget for 2018/19.

The money will form part of £6.2m to be paid by the six local authorities of the region to support a Single Investment Fund to free up revenue for "mayoral capacity requirements"..

The Combined Authority met on Friday (February 2) with the budget report approved after being put before members.

The report states: "In recognition of the transitional nature of the 2018/19 financial year, and in order to

support the 2018/19 LCRCA budget and to free up revenue to meet the 2018/19 Mayoral CA capacity requirements, the Single Investment Fund will be supported by contributions of £6.2m provided by the six constituent councils, to be determined by the relative population of each district".

It adds: "Investing in the Combined Authority in this way demonstrates the commitment of the constituent districts of the Combined Authority to the devolution deal and to the wider objectives of the new Mayoral Combined Authority".

St Helens, which comprises of 11.64 per cent of the region's catchment population, is to pay £721,729 towards the investment package.

Meanwhile, Knowsley will pay £598,004 towards the total.

Liverpool will contribute the most with more than £1.95m; Halton £513,095; Sefton more than £1.1m and the Wirral more than £1.29m.

Metro mayor Steve Rotheram has confirmed no precept would be levied on council tax bills for 2018/19.

Some key proposals presented within the proposed budget will include £1.6m funding to support key mayoral priorities, including digital connectivity, the Mersey Tidal project and making best use of new bus powers for the benefit of the region's economy.

The budget will also support the establishment of the necessary capacity to enable the Combined Authority to deliver an investment fund that is already in excess of £1bn.

The report adds: "Unless government policy shifts significantly, the burden of funding the Mayoral CA will continue to be felt locally. As a result, the Combined Authority commits to securing a sustainable funding model for Mayoral costs from 2019/20 onwards".

On the budget, metro mayor Steve Rotheram said: “These proposals set out our key priorities for the next 12 months and how, as a Combined Authority, we will spend our resources in support of our vision for an ambitious, fair, green and connected City Region that works better together.

“As a streamlined and strategic authority we want to make prudent use of our resources and ensure that money is directed at projects that will deliver growth, investment and opportunity to all our communities.

“Devolution is about making more decisions for ourselves and so we need to make sure we are spending money where it has a real impact, improving lives and opportunities for people across our City Region.”

“Through the gainshare element of our devolution agreement we have secured an additional £900m for our City Region over 30 years, money that we have been investing in creating more jobs, apprenticeships and economic growth.

“But since my election we have also attracted nearly half a billion pounds in additional money to support investment in roads, transport and combatting homelessness.”