THE leader of Waverley Borough Council says he is optimistic that his council will persuade the government to increase its funding of the local authority, saving council tax payers from a 10 per cent rise.
David Harmer, the Conservative leader of the council, said that if the government does not fund Waverley at least in line with inflation, he will embarrass the government by revealing mistakes it made while working out next year's grants to local councils.
Speaking at a specially arranged meeting to discuss a way to tackle the £195,000 shortfall resulting from the yet-to-be-finalised funding decrease of 0.8 per cent, Mr Harmer, who has been lobbying local government minister Nick Raynsford, told councillors: "The system is Byzantine. The government needs to get off the hook because I may well explain to the public what happened and that would be far more embarrassing.
"They have made errors and I think they will have to resolve this."
Mr Harmer revealed that Waverley is being "penalised" because of the proportion of the borough's population in sixth form schools and colleges, "which is nothing to do with district councils", he said.
The Herald understands that the government has decided that sixth form colleges will no longer be funded by county councils but by an education council.
As a result, it has withdrawn money for councils to provide sixth form education, but instead of hitting county councils, which provide it, civil servants and ministers have mistakenly targeted borough and district councils.
Mr Harmer said that of the 155 councils "most disadvantaged" - to the tune of £6 million - by the government's tabled levels of Revenue Support Grant, Waverley is the second-worst off after Mole Valley, which covers the Leatherhead and Dorking area.
But Mr Harmer concluded on a hopeful note: "I think we will get 2.3 per cent."
No matter what the final settlement, to be announced early next year, Waverley is already committed to finding £556,000 worth of savings from next year's budget.