PETERSFIELD council tax payers will have to dig deeper into their pockets to find an estimated extra £51 next year. The modest rise represents an increase of £50.89 for the average council tax payer, or just under £1 a week. It means the average Band D tax payer will probably be stumping up a total of £1,278.78 when the new council tax year starts in April. Their bills will be made up of demands from Hampshire county, East Hampshire district and Petersfield town councils, as well as the police and fire authorities. But it has been described by Hampshire county councillors, who will take the lion's share of the tax cake (£910.62 and a four per cent rise) as a budget of "tough choices in hard times". Leading councillors said the county had been given a "derisory" government settlement at a time when it was battling soaring costs in service provision which exceeded the rate of inflation. East Hampshire district councillors, who will be taking £127.67 of the total tax bill from the average householder, have been more upbeat about their budget and precept. By contrast with the county, they received more than they expected in government grant and have been able to keep their tax rise to a modest 2.5 per cent. Indeed, district councillors are promising to improve their services, introducing the trial of a new district-wide doorstep glass collection service and freezing car parking costs as well as the introduction of concessionary bus fares for elderly and disabled passengers. Petersfield town councillors, keenly aware of their monumental 35 per cent council tax increase last year, have managed to drop it by one per cent this year. The decrease comes after several months of hard budget pruning which will leave them hard-pressed to carry out all the work they would wish on The Festival Hall and The Heath. The fire authority, which takes the smallest proportion of the tax cake, will be asking for an extra £1.56 per average householder next year taking £53.66 from the average householder. The Hampshire Police Authority is proposing an increase of 4.98 per cent, a whisker below the five per cent government capping limit, which will mean £5.67 on the average bill. But the Police Authority reckons this will enable it to employ 170 more police officers countywide and an extra 514 police community support officers. All five precepting authorities are due to make their final decision on their budget proposals over the next 12 days before East Hampshire district councillors agree the final figure on February 22 and send out council tax bills on behalf of all four authorities at the end of March.