COUNCIL tax paid to North Yorkshire County Council is expected to rise by an inflation-busting 4.9 per cent this year.

That will be on top of any increases by district councils and the fire and police authorities.

Council chiefs say their "low tax, low spend" policy represents good value for money for North Yorkshire residents.

But opponents say the council is having to "scrabble around to chop off little bits of services" to make ends meet.

Although a final decision has not yet been made, the county council is expected to push through a 4.9 per cent increase later this month.

That will mean an extra £42.02 on the annual bill for a band D household, up to a total of £899.47.

John Moore, corporate director for finance, said the council would remain a "low cost authority". He said the average county council tax charge in England last year was £910.

Mr Moore said: "We are one of the lowest taxing authorities and also one of the lowest spending but that doesn't necessarily mean low quality. Compared to most other county councils, we are low cost, and the trick is to have high quality and low cost."

But Liberal Democrat county councillor David Lloyd-Williams slammed the proposals. He claimed the current Conservative administration was paying for past mistakes. He said: "This is a typical Tory budget. I get very frustrated by this 'ultra-low, mustn't spend money' attitude.

"In the past, when other authorities increased council tax, this one was trying to make cuts. Now it is struggling, because it has not got a lot of fat left on the bone. In fact, there aren't even many bones left now. We are scrabbling around to chop off little bits of services in order to make ends meet, and that is very sad."

If the proposed council tax rise and budget is approved, some services will have to be cut, including rural transport subsidies - a prospect which has already sparked outrage among isolated village communities.

Mr Moore told a budget consultation meeting in Norton that the county council was facing a "real" inflationary figure of about 4.1 per cent, because of particularly high increases in the cost of petrol and oil.

He said: "The council is not buying loaves of bread it is buying things like fuel. If you add all that up, inflation for the county council comes to about four per cent to balance the budget."

Mr Moore added that it was unlikely that Whitehall would accept an increase of more than 4.9 per cent anyway.

District and borough councils in North Yorkshire - including Ryedale, Hambleton and Selby - have yet to set their council tax levels formally, but Ryedale is expected to announce an increase of 2.5 per cent.

Updated: 15:11 Wednesday, February 08, 2006