A TAX rise of almost ten per cent has been agreed by Devon County Council as part of a budget designed to safeguard public services.
This year's council tax bills will rise by 9.5 per cent for the average band D householder in West Devon.
The budget for the next financial year will see the authority spend £546-million on schools, social care, roads and other vital services.
Council leaders said they had to strike a balance between maintaining public services and asking Devon residents to pay more council tax in the face of a £40-million shortfall in Government funding.
The budget was approved with all-party support last Thursday and takes into account the Government's assumption that Devon's income from council tax will rise by 6.75 per cent this year.
Devon's budget will meet the Government's £271-million spending target for education and the extra cost of the county's rising school population. In all, there will be an extra £17.6-million for education across Devon.
The social services budget will be the largest ever for Devon, and ten per cent above the Government's estimated expenditure. A total of £120-million will be spent on care for the elderly, disabled people and vulnerable children.
Roads and public transport including road maintenance will receive £61-million from the budget.
The council says the tax rise of 18p a day for the average householder, is among the lowest proposed by local authorities across the South West.
Tavistock county councillor Roy Connelly said it was encouraging to see all the party groups on the council coming together to address the issues of the budget. 'I think the good thing is that members across all the political groups reluctantly accepted the necessity of increasing the council tax.'
Cllr Connelly said there had been no choice but to raise council tax to meet social services needs. 'We need to see adequate funding from central government to safeguard services for the most vulnerable children and the elderly.'
Cllr Connelly said the council tax rise was in line with the average increase for shire counties, which was around 9.35 per cent. He said maintaining adequate social service budgets was a problem across the country, but the South West was particularly disadvantaged in terms of government funding for social services and education.
Other key elements of the new revenue budget provide for; £450,000 extra on highways to reduce flooding on roads and keep the county moving in severe weather, £150,000 extra to buy more books for Devon libraries, £336,000 for the Citizens Advice Bureaux and the Devon Welfare Rights Unit, £200,000 for Volunteer Bureaux and Councils for Voluntary Services, £100,000 to help people claim their benefit entitlements and £166,000 to tackle domestic violence and support women's refuges.