HIKES in this year's council tax bill will be lower than expected, thanks to a pre-election budget by the county council, but it won't be enough to stop it breaking a new barrier. However, the bad news is that the police and borough council are likely to increase their portion of the bill by 4.9 per cent each - the highest both can raise their precepts by without government disapproval. This means that for the first time in Haslemere, the overall bill for the average home will break the £1,200 mark. The largest chunk of cash is to go to Surrey County Council, which pays for number of key services such as education, social care and highways. Its budget also includes cash for the fire service. On Tuesday, the county council agreed a £1.001 billion budget, with the government's contribution towards it equating to £525 per person and the rest having to be raised through council tax and savings. Despite massive concerns over the low amount of government cash handed to the council, it agreed to raise its portion of the precept by only 3.5 per cent, the lowest rise in a decade, taking its share of the council tax to an average £920.70. The leader of the Tory-run county council, Nick Skellett, said that the budget, its last before the May local elections, achieves a balance which benefits everyone - setting a low tax rise for residents while still improving public services. "I truly believe this budget has achieved what many thought would be impossible, a balance that benefits everybody in Surrey, " he said. "What we have outlined represents significant investment into public services, especially for the county's vulnerable, and more spending on vital infrastructure while delivering the lowest council tax increase in a decade." However, the opposition Liberal Democrat councillors were sceptical and warned that cuts to services could be on the way after the elections. "Although I welcome the single-figure increase in council tax, which is good news for pensioners and others on fixed incomes, I find the content of the budget unacceptable," said Lib Dem Hazel Watson. "The Conservative administration's cuts 'require further validation'. This begs the question whether they are reliable and achievable. "The Conservative executive has stated that they 'will consider future savings in more detail once the 2005/06 budget has been agreed'. "I believe that this is likely to mean cuts to frontline services being announced later in the year, as has happened in the past with bus cuts being announced halfway through the year." The news is not good for Waverley Borough Council and Surrey Police, both of which are looking at increasing their share of the bill by 4.9 per cent - the maximum rise which the government has deemed acceptable. On Monday, Waverley Borough Council's executive agreed that it would recommend the increase, taking its average share of the bill to £138.73. The Lib Dem-led council, which faces a huge financial deficit and pays for services such as housing, rubbish collections and planning, has taken cost-cutting measures totalling around £300,000 to keep the bill down. It was also hit hard by a poor government grant which gave it only an extra £45,000 to spend when compared with last year. "This achievement has avoided high levels of council tax increase and has gone some way to reduce Waverley's underlying shortfall of income versus expenditure, which has arisen over recent years from extra costs, for example, on recycling and licensing, which have not been paid for by the government," the portfolio holder for finance, Stewart Edge, explained. "We fully appreciate that council tax payers expect us to ensure value for money from our current income before proposing council tax rises." The proposed increase, details of which were only released last Friday, will now be considered by full council when it meets on February 22. The other authority yet to agree its budget is the Surrey Police Authority which is due to discuss its finances today (Friday). It is proposing to increase its share of the overall bill by 4.9 per cent taking the average to £154.26, after also suffering from government underfunding. The draft budget will enable the number of police officers to be maintained at 1,944 but does include some cost-cutting measures and taking £900,000 from its reserves. If both the police and borough council precepts are agreed, the overall bill for the average Haslemere home, which includes around £22.28 for the town council, will be £1,235.97 - an increase of £44.83 (3.76 per cent).
