FARNHAM residents face paying around an extra £50 in council tax next year, as well as cuts in services after yet another round of low government grants. Councils and the police learned this week how much money they could expect to get from the government next year to help pay for services and Surrey was again handed one of the lowest in England. Ministers announced they would be contributing just 20 per cent towards the estimated £570 million Surrey County Council will need to spend on public services next year - leaving council tax payers to pick up a massive 80 per cent of the council's expenditure. Surrey is looking at slashing its costs by £50 million but will have to look at cutting services and increasing the cash it raises through its council tax. "This settlement is bad news for Surrey, as again our taxpayers' money is being sent to fund increases to councils in the Midlands and north of England," council leader Nick Skellett said. Last year, the average council tax bill in Farnham was £1,259.64 with £920.70 of it going to the county council. A five per cent increase will see this increase to £966.74. Surrey Police Authority, which gets the next largest portion of the council tax, which last year stood at £154.26, is also disappointed with its low government grant. The chairman of Surrey Police Authority, Liz Campbell, said that its 3.2 per cent increase in grant is not enough to meet its costs for inflation, pensions and proposed changes to the structure of the police force before extra spending can even be considered. "We are mindful of the significant burden that council tax places on local people and the authority will do everything possible to keep the tax increase down and sustain current service levels." A modest increase in its precept of three per cent would take its share of the council tax up to £158.89. The news for Waverley Borough Council was "not as gloomy as we might have expected" was the verdict of council leader Gillian Ferguson, speaking to the Waverley executive on Tuesday. Waverley's portfolio holder for finance, Stewart Edge, indicated that he hoped Waverley would limit its rise to inflation which currently stands at 2.3 per cent. Last year Farnham residents paid £138.60 to Waverley taking its share to £141.79. An inflation-only increase in the amount paid to the town council would take its precept up to £47.14, pushing the total bill for the average home up to £1,314.56 - £54.92 more than this year.