MANY Surrey residents will be happy to see less money spent on arts and culture, transport subsidies, youth centres, grants to voluntary groups and fire stations to keep their council tax down, a survey has revealed. However more than half have said that they would accept a small increase in return for improvements. Research into Surrey residents' views on how their council tax cash should be spent were reported to Surrey County Council's decision-making executive last week. The public opinion research found that 58 per cent of people would accept a small above- inflation increase in return for specific service improvements; 22 per cent would prefer a modest reduction in services in order to pay less council tax; and 20 per cent would prefer to keep council tax and services at the same level. Five hundred residents participated in the special council tax consultation, in which they were asked to prioritise council services according to what was most important to them. They were asked to indicate which services they thought should be allocated more money for improvements, or less money, resulting in service cuts. Generally older people were less keen to pay more, even for improved services, according to the face-to-face consultation carried out in people's homes by market research company, Research for Today (RFT). It forms part of the council's attempts to find massive savings and prioritise spending in the face of government underfunding. "Clearly this research is only part of the evidence the county council will be considering as we move through our budget-setting process," leader of the council Nick Skellett said. "It's never possible to do everything we would like, and so it's important that we understand residents' priorities when taking decisions that have a big impact on their communities and quality of life. "We face serious challenges, not least because the government has failed again to recognise the level of need in Surrey and fund it accordingly. Other parts of the country get two or even three times as much government support, so a disproportionate burden falls on our council taxpayers. "We are committed to making efficiencies and will do everything we can to protect services and keep council tax down. "To make the decisions that are in the best interests of Surrey people, we need the best information and will be looking at this research carefully." A representative sample of people took part in the survey which measures the relative popularity of alternative budget allocations across council services. According to the public responses analysed under the methodology the service reductions that would cause least concern included arts and culture, transport subsidies, youth centres, grants to voluntary groups and fire stations. The respondents were against reducing pavement and road maintenance, the stock of library books available, tackling anti-social behaviour and supporting people with disabilities. Helping older people live at home was one of the improvements that would give greatest satisfaction to people. The responses were remarkably consistent across the county with no evidence of a rural- urban divide.