MORE than half a milliion council tax payers in Kent will not know if they are likely to face higher bills due to a property revaluation until after the next election.

Ministers have come under fire after announcing they were postponing a revaluation of all properties and would not implement any changes until an independent review of local government funding had been completed.

That is not expected to be done until some time after the next election.

There had been fears that revaluation could lead to a hike in bills for many householders in county, primarily because of the dramatic increase in property values in the South East.

Ministers had insisted the Government did not intend to increase the amount of money it took from council taxpayers. Current bills are based on property values assessed in 1991.

Kent County Council Conservative leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart accused the Government of kicking the issue into the long grass.

He said: "This is very bad news for local government and council taxpayers alike. Without reform, the Government will simply continue to force up council tax and this must be addressed now."

But KCC opposition Labour group leader Mike Eddy said the decision was sensible.

"If we are going to have change in the way local government is funded and organised, it is better to do it in one go and bring the two things together."

Local government minister David Milliband has charged the man leading a review of council tax reform to conduct a potentially far-reaching investigation into the whole of issue of funding.

Kent’s 519,000 council taxpayers currently contribute around £456 million towards the county council’s budget - excluding the amounts charged by the local district council, Kent Police, Kent Fire and parish councils.

This year, KCC bills for those in homes in Band D rose to £877 but for those in the top property band H, it is almost twice as much - £1,754.

When a revaluation exercise was carried out in Wales, a third of households ended up paying more while just eight per cent paid less. The rest remained unchanged.