COUNCIL tax payers across North Yorkshire will have to pay 4.9 per cent more to the county authority.

Councillors yesterday agreed an increase equivalent to 81p a week for the average Band D household.

It will take the total paid by the average Band D householder up £42, from £857 to £899.

To that will be added the bills of the district councils, police, fire and rescue service and any parish council taxes.

County council leader John Weighell said: "Our aim is to protect and improve public services while minimising any tax increase."

He added: "As in previous years, the Government's annual grant increase does not take full account of the true cost of providing services in a large rural area such as North Yorkshire.

"To compensate, we have identified £5m of efficiency savings that will help to pay for next year's budget. This is on top of more than £12m such savings identified in the past two years and already ploughed back into services."

He insisted the authority had worked hard to achieve as low a figure as possible without compromising the quality of our services.

"Difficult decisions have had to be made, but North Yorkshire will continue to be one of the lowest taxing shire counties in England, with only two councils having a lower council tax level."

The Liberal Democrat group on the authority abstained from yesterday's vote and supported a Labour amendment designed to protect bus services against a £200,000 cut. The amendment was defeated.

Liberal democrat leader Caroline Seymour said: "We do not feel able to effectively judge whether this budget fulfils our aspirations for council tax payers.

"We have found the process this year secretive and uninformative in detail of both the cuts and growth areas.

"While 4.9 per cent meets the Government's target, it will still be an above-inflation burden to many of our residents on fixed or inflation-based incomes."