COUNTY councillors will meet today to decide on whether to support a 3.9 per cent increase in council tax bills.

Kent County Council will set out its spending plans for 2008-2009 at a special budget meeting.

The budget includes a proposal for a 3.9 per cent hike in bills, which would take the average for the county council’s slice of the tax to above £1,000 for the first time.

It is still unclear whether the budget will have to be rejigged to take account of an 11t-hour plea by KCC to be given £10million in grant money it says is owed to meet the costs of looking after unaccompanied asylum seekers.

The county council had commissioned an independent report from consultants to validate its claim and a meeting with the Home Office was scheduled to have taken place yesterday.

If KCC sticks to a 3.9 per cent rise, the bill for householders in Band D homes will increase by about £37 to £1,001.79.

The budget includes a package of cost-cutting measures saving some £27million. KCC’s Conservative administration insists that frontline services will not be hit in its £1.5billion spending plans.