MEMBERS of the public have questioned North Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner about police funding.

Julia Mulligan hosted a live webchat on the future of the police precept on Tuesday, with more than a dozen people going online to find out more.

When asked whether a payment freeze in 2015, rather than an increase of 1.99 per cent, would lead to a higher increase next year, Mrs Mulligan said that would not necessarily be the case.

She said: "It's unlikely that even if I wanted to do such a thing I could do so, as the government sets an upper limit on the percentage you can go for without having an expensive referendum.

"However, I do think that the finances are going to get tougher regardless of who wins the election, so if I do freeze then it may be one of the last times it's possible. But at the moment there are c£10m in reserves and a £500k underspend this year so I want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing by North Yorkshire's taxpayers."

However, Mrs Mulligan said although the budget was already set until 2016, a freeze could mean funding problems in the future with possible reductions in the number of police officers and staff, who make up 80 per cent of police funding.

She said: "If we don't raise it this year, it will mean there is a bigger gap to fund in subsequent years. Looking ahead, no matter what we do the number of police officers is likely to come under pressure as we'll have about £22m to save by the next five years."

Mrs Mulligan said more than 700 people had already responded to the public consultation, and said despite the PCC's office distributing more than £250,000 to local communities, increasing specialist victim support and taking on a full-time case worker to deal with the public, the organisation - which started in 2012 - is expected to be £500,000 cheaper than its predecessor, the Police Authority.

During the webchat, Mrs Mulligan was also asked about the future of North Yorkshire Police's headquarters, after controversial plans to build a new £18m site in South Kilvington were dropped in favour of sharing a site with Cleveland Police.

She said: "We're still on course with our plans to co-locate some services at Hemlington, for example a new data centre, and further announcements will be made later this year. However, the Cleveland deal meant that a new build simply would not have been best value for the taxpayer."