COUNCIL tax bills in Kent would have been less last year if the Government had not shifted more money to other authorities in the North of England and the Midlands.

A report by the independent Audit Commission has concluded councils in Kent and other parts of the South East were shortchanged because of changes to the way the Government allocated money.

As a result, council taxpayers were stung with bills that rose higher in the South East than in many other parts of the country.

The Audit Commission’s conclusions have been welcomed by Kent County Council’s ruling Conservative administration, which said the report vindicated its complaints of severe under-funding last year. KCC bills went up 12.5 per cent last year.

The Commission concluded there was a direct link between higher council tax bills and those parts of the country – such as Kent - which came off worse because of the way money was redistributed.

“A general pattern emerges which shows regions in the south with lower grant increases had higher average council tax increases,” the report stated.

Council leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart (Con) said he hoped the Government would now accept it was largely to blame for the above-inflation council tax hike.

“I hope this report helps us to a more constructive and more honest debate and that the Government recognises that it has set council tax yield at three times the rate of inflation,” he said.

Meanwhile, County Hall leaders have reiterated their determination to keep next year’s bills down to single figures. But they also warned they continued to struggle with increasing pressures on services.

A report presented to KCC’s Conservative cabinet said that despite a 5.1 per cent increase in Government grant, the county council would have just £2.9million to tackle the additional pressures building up on services, especially education and social services, which totalled £46.6million.

Cabinet member for finance Cllr Nick Chard (Con) said: “We are going to make savings of £18million to keep the council tax as low as possible while continuing to provide the level of services residents expect.”