MILLIONS of pounds to pay for vital services will have to be found from HampshireÕs council tax payers after the government announced that it will give local councils and the police a ÒpaltryÓ grant next year.

Councillors and the police authority have reacted angrily to the announcement last week that Hampshire County Council will receive a 3.7 per cent grant increase, East Hampshire District Council a 3.3 per cent rise and Hampshire Constabulary a three per cent increase.

This falls short of the grant necessary to maintain existing services and has resulted in a warning that the shortfall will have to be found by hiking up council tax.

This could mean that BordonÕs average household may be facing a council tax bill of £1,132.69 Ð an extra £165.56.

Leader of Hampshire County Council Ken Thornber said that the governmentÕs settlement, which makes up the lionÕs share of the councilÕs funding, will leave the county £45 million out of pocket over the next few years.

ÒThis paltry sum is nowhere near enough to meet the teachersÕ and firefightersÕ pay awards and national insurance increases as well as meeting the cost of inflation.

ÒIn addition, without a considerable council tax rise, we will not be able to meet the huge budget pressures.Ó

He pointed to rising costs and an increased demand on social services, and the increasing costs of paying for the countyÕs elderly residents to live in residential homes.

The leader also said that the cost of living in the south east had also not been taken into consideration and predicted a raise in the countyÕs precept of up to 20 per cent.

HampshireÕs police authority is also unimpressed with its grant settlement which the government claims will pay for better pay and conditions, more bobbies on the beat, state of the art communications and funding for community projects.

Simon Hayes, chairman of Hampshire Police Authority, said: ÒWe needed a seven per cent increase in support from government to avoid a reduction in policing or an above-inflation increase in council tax - and we havenÕt got it.

ÒWe will now have to take the difficult decision of either reducing policing or increasing the police precept in the council tax by at least 20 per cent. We do not want to see local policing suffer.

ÒWe have done our best to stop this happening by lobbying government ministers on three occasions, but apparently to no avail.Ó

The only good news for council tax payers is that East Hampshire District Council, who gets the second largest slice of the council tax cake, has said that it believes it can keep its raise to 2.5 per cent.

EHDC Leader Elizabeth Cartwright told The Herald that, although the 3.3 per cent rise in grant was less than the 5.9 per cent national average, it would mean the council would be able to see through its promise of a balanced budget and a tax rise in line with inflation.

She said: ÒI am quite relieved with our grant. The 3.3 per cent is slightly more than we budgeted for, but it is still well below the national average of 5.9 per cent.

ÒWe are able to keep our share of the tax bill to a 2.5 per cent increase.Ó

She said this was despite facing 3.5 per cent pay rises, one per cent national insurance and one per cent superannuation costs.

However the councilÕs popular Community InitiativeÕs fund could be a casualty of the small grant increase.

Councillors had hoped to top it up by £112,000 next year, but at present it looks as though this figure will be cut to £47,000.

Whitehill Town Council is expected to ratify its budget of £187,808 - £43.73 per household - on Monday (DECEMBER 16).

Despite the outcry from the county council and police, the minister for local government and the regions, Nick Raynsford has insisted that councils and the police should be better off with a new system Òthat would be fairer, more transparent and more justÓ.

ÒTo reach a conclusion we needed to balance the pressures, the evidence and the representations,Ó he said.

ÒIn summary, the purpose of the new system will be to distribute grant according to authoritiesÕ relative circumstances and relative ability to raise resources from council tax.

ÒMany members will have a particular interest in our decisions on the area cost adjustment. We have concluded that pay costs should be recognised within the system.

ÒIt will, in future, better reflect the different circumstances in London and the south-east, and the fact that authorities outside those areas have differing pay costs.

ÒSome authorities have been predicting a settlement under which councils will have to make cuts or impose significant council tax increases. I am glad that this announcement demonstrates that those fears, and the scaremongering from our political opponents about cuts in grants were unfounded.Ó

The final precepts of Hampshire County Council, the Police Authority and East Hampshire District Council will be agreed in February.