Council tax in Ryedale is likely to be more than double the rate of inflation next year
Ryedale councillors spent three hours at their first budget setting meeting trying to cut district council expenditure.
Council officials had told them they needed more than 20 per cent to keep services at their present level.
The council blames extra costs as a direct result of new Government initiatives.
It cites £100,000 for a new way of settling housing benefit, £150,000 over three years for matched funding to guarantee Government grants and new rules obliging the council to assess the value of all its services.
Top of the list to be chopped was a rise in councillors' expenses. A sum of £25,000 set aside for the first expenses rise in four years was scrapped, the vote being decided by the casting vote of chairman Coun Keith Knaggs.
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