TAX-PAYERS in North Yorkshire will foot a 4.3 per cent rise in the police precept on their council tax bill.

Members of North Yorkshire Police Authority, who are responsible for setting the annual budget, voted in favour of the increase.

Members approved a budget of £132.2 million for the force in 2008/2009 - a £4.6 million increase on the current year's budget.

The rise means the average band D council tax-payer will pay £193.37 - an extra £7.97 per household next year towards the cost of policing North Yorkshire.

Councillor Ruth Potter, York's Labour representative on the police authority, proposed a lesser increase of three per cent.

She said: "The police precept is part of council tax in York and has been increasing at levels well above inflation for many years now.

"The public understands that there are increases in costs, that is what inflation is about but they struggle to see why increases double that of inflation are necessary."

She said North Yorkshire Police Authority had "fared very well" with the last Government settlement.

"Given that, it should not be necessary to increase the police precept by any more than three per cent," she added.

"There are greater strains on public services elsewhere and this must be acknowledged. Unfortunately, rather than take this into account, North Yorkshire County Council members voted overwhelmingly to make the increase 4.3 per cent, resulting in a completely unnecessary burden on local tax-payers living in York.

"The budget found savings of £9 million and these should be achieved before pouring extra cash into North Yorkshire Police coffers."

But Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell said the budget - voted in yesterday - would ensure there were not cuts to frontline services.

He said: "This is a budget that will allow us to deliver our longer-term vision of a more responsive, accessible, visible and sustained policing service.

"We will continue to review every part of our service and expenditure to ensure that we get the maximum impact from every pound of tax-payers' money.

"Our focus in the year ahead will be safer neighbourhoods' and my vision is for North Yorkshire and the City of York to become nationally and internationally renowned for this area of work.

"This is all about delivering modern policing in a traditional way, but it needs officers out in the communities and this budget will mean that there will be no cuts in frontline services."

The precept is in addition to £74.8 million received from the Government through specific grants, which makes up 57 per cent of the force budget.