THE average North Yorkshire council tax bill will soar by at least £64 from April 1.

The 13 per cent hike, imposed at a crunch meeting of North Yorkshire County Council, is seen as the only way to stop vital services from being "strangled" by Government cuts.

Assuming the decision taken yesterday is rubber stamped at a meeting of the full council, the council tax charge for a Band D property will go up by £64.

The council wants to spend £360 million next year to safeguard vital services, but because of Government cuts, the authority is £6 million short.

Some of this will be offset by raising the council tax, but even so cuts will have to be made and jobs lost.

One councillor at yesterday's meeting said it was the most difficult budget the authority had had to balance in his 20 years in the job. Coun Michael Heseltine said: "We feel we are being strangled."

John Ransford, the chief executive, said: "This gets harder every year. It is difficult to explain to ourselves, let alone the public, that we are having a very great rise in council tax and yet services have been reduced.

"The Treasury is often said to have 'back pockets'. Well, our pockets are turned out. There is nothing left."

Coun Geoffrey Webber said the highways budget was so ridiculously stretched that between 12 and 16 people would probably lose their jobs. He said: "Without them, we can't grit and salt the roads in the winter. These are not people we can do without."

Council leader David Ashton said the debate had been a long one. "There were representations from all the service committees about the need to increase spending rather than enforce any cuts. However, we always knew this was a very difficult budget."

An independent councillor, Andrew Williams, told the meeting North Yorkshire should be fighting the Government cuts, not accepting them. He said: "We will face the same thing next year. It is time for this authority to say 'no more' and challenge central government to tell our taxpayers why they have to pay more."

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