Bedfordshire County Council approved its budget for 2006/7 last Thursday. The budget means that council tax for county council services will increase by 4.88 per cent from April. That works out as an increase of £3.58 a month for a Band C household, the m

Bedfordshire County Council approved its budget for 2006/7 last Thursday. The budget means that council tax for county council services will increase by 4.88 per cent from April.

That works out as an increase of £3.58 a month for a Band C household, the most common in Bedfordshire.

Cllr Madeline Russell, leader of the county council, said: "We know council tax is too high and people pay too much. We know people in Bedfordshire will find any increase hard, particularly those people on low fixed incomes. We also know that the council tax system is long overdue for reform. But we have to find a balance between what is an acceptable level of increase and limiting the impact on services. I believe we have done that."

The amount of council tax people in Bedfordshire will pay towards policing, known as the policing precept, will be increased by 4.9 per cent according to Bedfordshire Police Authority.

This means those living in Band D properties next year will pay an extra £5.57, an increase of just over 11p a week, making a total of £117.55 per annum.

The Government provides 73 per cent or £64 million of the funding for Bedfordshire Police Authority. The remaining funding of £23.3 million comes from council tax.