by political editor Paul Francis

Kent County Council will shed another 400 jobs next year as part of a budget that will see £97m of savings.

The ruling Conservative administration at County Hall insisted that despite a bleak financial outlook and unprecedented financial pressures, its budget would safeguard key frontline services.

Opposition parties gave short shrift to that, saying the scale of savings made cuts inevitable.

KCC leader Cllr Paul Carter (Con) said: "This is not a slash and burn budget. The only way we can balance the books is by procuring services better, modernising our services and employing less staff. It is an intelligent and innovative budget that supports the residents of Kent and protects the most vulnerable."

Asked if it was viable to claim that services would be spared the axe, he said: "It is difficult to see where we are cutting services."

There will be some respite for hard-pressed council taxpayers, with bills frozen for a second successive year. Average Band D bills for KCC’s share will stay at £1,047.

At a press conference detailing the authority’s £2.2bn spending for 2012-13, KCC announced that 400 jobs would have to go to save £7.2m. The jobs being lost come on top of 600 already axed this year.

It also said there would be "reform" of services, saving £24m and that it planned to dip into its reserves - rainy day money - to the tune of £6m.

It also said there would be increased charges for some services, which along with income from its trading enterprises, would generate an extra £13m.

In other proposals, KCC announced:

A cut of £11.4m from time-limited projects Plans to save £3.1m by improving preventitive services for vulnerable children A £2m fund to boost youth employment from a Big Society fund A £723m capital programme over three years Cllr Carter said: "This is a challenging budget in the most difficult times.overnment funding has reduced again and demand and inflation pressures have increased, particularly in children and adult social services."

Labour opposition leader Cllr Gordon Cowan said: "These £97m savings can only be achieved by savage cuts in front line services, or by increased charges, in services like libraries, home care, youth services or highways maintenance."

He accused the government of making more drastic cuts now so it could appear to be generous at the next election.

For the Liberal Democrats, finance spokesman Cllr Tim Prater said: "You cannot make cuts on this scale and not harm frontline services. KCC has had £5m sitting in its Big Society fund, of which not a penny has been spent. That is money that could be used to spare services."

The budget proposals will be out for consultation over the next few weeks.