RESIDENTS in Wiltshire will see their council tax bills rise by 4.95 per cent, making an increase of £43.83 on a Band D property to give a total of £929.25.

The council tax rise will come into effect in April and was agreed at a full meeting of Wiltshire County Council on Tuesday.

Council leader Jane Scott said the council received by 2.1 per cent the second lowest funding settlement for a county council in the country.

This, and the withdrawal of specific grants, meant the council will receive an increase of only £750,000 from the Government. The county council got an increase of 7.2 per cent in Government grant for education spending.

Coun Scott said the increase in council tax was more than she wished to set but said it was the lowest necessary in order to maintain acceptable front line services.

As well as increasing the budgets for children's services, adult and community services and environmental services the Conservative-run county council came up with £7.6 million worth of savings.

The savings include £573,000 for changing the criteria for eligibility for people receiving community care transport to day centres, more than £350,000 for increased charges for home care, meals on wheels and other community services, £500,000 on reducing the cost of running children's homes, £293,000 on reorganising the social work and family support services by reducing the number of teams, cutting the £100,000 subsidy for the RUH Hopper bus service and cutting £300,000 from bus services which will result in some evening and weekend bus services being axed.

A number of posts have either been axed or scaled down.

During the 2005/06 financial year the county council will overspend by £5.3 million, the majority of which is in adult and community services followed by children and education.

This overspend is being funded by the use of a specially set up revenue budget contingency reserve.

Coun Patrick Coleman, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, was concerned that vulnerable people, including users of the RUH hopper bus and people awaiting a care home place would be badly affected.