Town councillors were forced to cut budgets this week, or face imposing massive tax rises.

Councillors were told "cut spending or raise tax by an unprecedented 42 per cent", because of the financial crisis exposed by an internal auditor's report earlier this year.

And tempers flared as councillors had to decide what should stay and what should be axed from next year's budget.

On Monday night the public halls committee slashed its budget by more than £11,000 in an attempt to tackle the predicted rises.

The items removed from the first draft budget included decorating work at the Festival Hall and Sheet Village Hall, improvements to toilets, and the provision of baby-changing facilities at the town hall.

Sanding the Festival Hall floor and provision of a new boiler in the dressing room were also deleted during the first round of discussions.

And further maintenance and improvement works, including carpet cleaning, were flagged as possible cuts.

The council's financial officer, Susan Watt, told the committee: "We need to set realistic budgets. You need to decide whether it [budget item] is a need or a want. If it is a want, I suggest you think carefully if you want it in. If it is a need, then we need to set a realistic budget figure."

And Aaron Baird was adamant the budget should be stripped back to the bare essentials.

"We need to say, is it life or death expenditure, yes or no? Are we going to get into trouble, is it health and safety?" he said.

"We cannot keep spending money ad infinitum. We have to put a cap on things, that's it."

But the committee chairman, Ken Hick, told him that efficient financial management was not all about "cut, cut, cut".

And George Watkinson added: "We have a duty to people who hire and use these halls to make the best of it. They pay a lot of money to sit in here and watch a production."

The public halls committee members managed to cut more expenditure than counterparts on the council's grounds committee, who last week increased its budget by nearly £2,000.

Last night the council's finance and general purposes committee was due to discuss the first draft budget before passing it back to the committees for further consideration.

The final budget, and council tax precept, will be set in January.