COUNCIL tax in the Darlington borough could rise by 4.8 per cent, with officials pledging that they will provide excellent value for money.

Bosses at Darlington Borough Council said yesterday that the proposed rise would mean taxpayers in a Band A property would pay an extra 57p per week.

If the 4.8 per cent rise is approved, it will mean council tax has risen by 51.7 per cent since 2001.

However, council chiefs believe that the authority will continue to have the lowest council tax in the North-East once the final budget for the coming year is approved in March.

Authorities across the country are facing financial dilemmas, with the Government insisting that council tax rises must be below five per cent.

However, plans to dip into council reserves to fill a budget shortfall have been criticised by the local Conservative group.

Three-quarters of the authority's income comes from a central Government grant, but the £80.3m allocated for 2005/06 is not as good as was expected.

As a result, finance chiefs have announced their intention to help fund some services by using part of the council's £6.8m reserves.

But that idea was questioned yesterday by Tory councillors, who said that the ruling Labour group had decided against such a move last year.

Conservative resources spokesman Charles Johnson said: "Setting the budget is going to be a gloomy time for the Labour group. The budget plan for 2005/6 is already in deficit by £2m.

"Savings can be made in the rest of 2004/05 which hopefully will offset some of this deficit, and we have to see how much this will be.

"The use of council reserves was ruled out last year by the controlling group as, 'reckless in the extreme', so there would appear to be little option but to cut costs significantly."

However, chief executive Barry Keel was adamant that there would be no service cuts and that Darlington residents would continue to see major improvements to the area.

There will, however, be £1.3m worth of "efficiency savings" over the course of the year.

Funds would be invested to maintain services, such as a neighbourhood management scheme on Firthmoor, after grants had run out, Mr Keel said.

A £3m upgrade of the Dolphin Centre will also continue, enhancing sports, childcare and catering facilities, as well as seeing a modern registry office and marriage hall based there.

Mr Keel also pointed to major developments taking place across the borough, including the £35m Haughton education village; new schools at Skerne Park, Middleton St George and Cockerton; £35m worth of investment in housing stock; £15m being invested in the highways infrastructure and £7m in the town centre "pedestrian heart" scheme.

He said: "The budget attempts to achieve the balance between keeping council tax low and continuing to provide good quality services.

"Over this next year, it is likely that we will remain the lowest council tax authority in the region but, at the same time, we are managing to make some very exciting investments."