FARNHAM council taxpayers may face inflation-busting council tax rises from county, borough and town councils this year. With Farnham Town Council having already settled on a 4.5 per cent increase, and discord in Waverley Borough Council over bids to peg its rise to three per cent, Surrey County Council seems set to add a whopping five per cent to its bill this April. The government has indicated it will cap authorities for increases above five per cent and the recommendation being made by the county council's Conservative-controlled executive at the budget meeting next week, will push this figure to the limit. The Tory group claimed this week that the council faces an unprecedented financial crisis at the hands of government following the publication of grant figures on Tuesday. Conservative group leader Nick Skellett explained: "The publication of the government's final financial settlement has confirmed our worst fears. Despite intensive lobbying of the government for fairer funding for Surrey, our pleas have been met with a derisory £17,000 increase in our grant. "Given our chronic level of under-funding we, as an administration, feel that we have been left with no choice but to raise council tax by five per cent for the coming year." He added: "Of course, our current financial situation would be much worse had we not taken the decision to carry out the business- delivery review, which has helped the council find the necessary savings to keep the council tax rise down to the bare minimum, without adversely impacting on our primary function of providing services for Surrey's residents." The review, which has found savings of £22.7m through measures, including a net reduction of 661 in staff employed from County Hall, was endorsed by the council last week amid opposition from the Liberal Democrats. In a statement, the Lib Dems claimed: "The review was supposed to identify savings without cutting services. Unfortunately it has failed. The proposals include include closing 15 youth centres and six libraries as well as cutting bus services. On top of this, the proposals drastically reduce the number of highways staff and that is likely to worsen the ability of highways to deal with problems promptly."