COUNCIL taxpayers in Kent face an increase in their bills of 4.75 per cent this year - twice the rate of inflation.

Kent County Council, which accounts for the largest slice of the council tax, has proposed spending plans that will see average bills rising by £41 to £918 for those in homes in Band D.

The largest number of council taxpayers in Kent live in Band C homes and for them, bills will rise to £816, the equivalent of an additional 73 pence a week.

County Hall’s Conservative leaders say that while the rise is higher than they would have liked, their £1.3billion budget will safeguard key services and no jobs will be lost.

KCC says it has also managed to pare back spending on administration to save £35million and has set out plans to save a further £30million between now and 2008.

Conservative leader Cllr Paul Carter blamed the Government for shortchanging KCC, saying the two per cent increase in central Government funding was the lowest of all county councils and once borrowing costs and the loss of some grants were taken into account, Kent had an increase of less than half a per cent.

“While this figure is higher than I would have liked, I am pleased we have been able to bring in a figure of less than five per cent in the face of extremely unfair treatment from the grant system.”

The pressures facing Kent, such as an ageing population, meant Kent ought to have qualified for more Government cash, he said and there was a limit to how much more KCC could save in the future without hitting frontline services.

But opposition Labour finance spokesman Cllr Derek Smyth accused KCC of failing to take into account a record 6.8 per cent increase the Government had awarded for the county’s schools.

“Once this is brought into the equation, the true picture is that Kent has had an increase of 5.6 per cent. KCC has deliberately ignored the increase for schools. As usual, it is a case of smoke and mirrors,” he said.

KCC finance chief David Lewis said: “Levels of deprivation have got worse in Kent in recent years, not better. Given that, we might have expected a major redistribution of grants top give Kent a larger slice of the cake.”

KCC’s budget will be agreed at a meeting in February. District and borough councils are expected to confirm their budgets in the newt few weeks. Full details of KCC’s plans can be seen at www.kent.gov.uk