BUCKINGHAMSHIRE County Council's cabinet meets on Monday and will agree to put its share of the council tax up by 5.4 per cent from next April.

The increase will add £34.84 a year to bills paid by people living in the average Band D homes. From April they will pay £680.51 for the services provided by the county council, which include education, social services, roads and the environment.

To this will have to be added the smaller rates levied by Wycombe and other district councils, which have yet to be decided, the amount needed for the Thames Valley Police, and the parish rates. The cabinet decision will have to be ratified by the full county council when it meets on February 22, but this is expected to be a formality.

Only a third of county council spending is met by taxpayers. The rest comes in government grants and business rates.

Extra government grant for some authorities was announced last week but council leader David Shakespeare said the extra for Buckinghamshire, about £184,000, had not made any difference to the overall council tax bill. The 5.4 per cent increase is in line with what the government said average rises should be for the county councils, although it will probably be slightly lower than other counties.

Cllr Shakespeare, who has been criticised by some for basing his budget on government guidelines rather than what people said they needed, said it was difficult to decide what need was.

Cllr Shakespeare said: "Some people would draw up a budget that would satisfy everyone's needs, regardless of the effect on others."