VOLUNTARY organisations in York have been hit by council tax bills running into thousands of pounds - because they have too much cash in the bank.

Five non-profit organisations that applied to City of York Council for relief from business rates had their applications refused, meaning they could be forced to pay up to £4,000.

Three organisations appealed against the ruling and are due to find out next week if they will have to pay.

The Friends Of Hopgrove Playing Fields Association, which is formed from three sports clubs based near Monks Cross, was told to pay council tax because its reserves totalled more than £32,000.

But the association has appealed to the council, saying its reserves have since dropped to £24,000 and it has earmarked half of that for drainage work.

Denby Hawkins, secretary of the association, said it would have struggled to pay the £1,200 being asked of it.

He said: "We did have reserves of money which have been gained by the association from one of our member clubs. That was put into our funds, but we have got various projects that we want to do to improve the fields and this money is earmarked for that."

He added: "To raise that much money is almost impossible for us these days.

"We try to keep the subscription rates down as low as possible to make sport available for young people. But the income doesn't really cover our running expenses."

Council officers have now recommended that the executive member for leisure and culture, Coun Christian Vassie, grants the association full rate relief at a meeting on Tuesday.

The other two organisations that have appealed for rate relief are the York Gymnastics Foundation and the 1st Huntington Scout Group.

A report to Coun Vassie states that the gymnastics group has funds of almost £93,000 and has not supplied the council with an up-to-date set of accounts, meaning it would have to pay its £4,000 rates bill.

The Scout group has a balance of more than £10,500 that it said was set aside to fund activities to celebrate the Scout Movement's centenary year.

But the report said the planned projects did not meet relief criteria and the group should "comfortably" be able to stump up £799 in rates.

Registered charities can apply for up to 80 per cent mandatory relief, while the other 20 per cent is up to the discretion of the local authority.

A total of 65 not-for-profit organisations based in York applied for rate relief this year and 59 were automatically accepted.