COUNCIL Tax payers in West Somerset will see little increase in their bills in the coming year.

West Somerset Council this week voted to freeze the district authority share of the levy to take advantage of a one-off financial incentive offered by the Government.

The Tory controlled council, along with Somerset County Council, the police and fire authorities - who have also imposed a freeze - will receive a grant equivalent to a 2.5 per cent rise, meaning householders will only be hit in the pocket by increases in town and parish precepts.

The decision at a full council meeting on Wednesday followed a failed attempt by some opposition councillors to get the district to agree a 3.5 per cent rise in its share of Council Tax bills - the maximum allowed under Government capping rules.

Lead member for finance Cllr Kate Kravis told the meeting that the Government grant would bring in £50,000.

Although increasing Council Tax by 3.5 per cent would raise £70,000, the entire amount would be paid by local people.

Cllr Kravis said the authority would gain just £20,000 extra.

"We would be hitting our ratepayers with a £70,000 tax bill and saving central Government £50,000," she said.

"I don't feel this is the right time. We are in the depths of a recession and it is not right."

But with the council having come under fire for its failure to raise Council Tax in the past - it would need a 24 per cent increase to bring it into line with similar district authorities - the meeting was warned that lessons were not being learned.

Cllr Peter Humber said the dilemma over whether to accept the Government sweetener or increase Council Tax to the capping limit was a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" situation.

"Council Tax is the most toxic part of the financial inheritance that this council faced in 2007," he said.

"The dilemma of Council Tax is directly due to the philosophy of the Conservatives from 1999, who were more concerned with keeping it as low as possible to appease the electorate rather than have the courage and conviction to raise it to enable the council to function efficiently and become functionally stable."

And Cllr Simon Stokes said that if Council Tax had been raised over the last ten years, the authority would now be around £500,000 better off.

"That is the legacy that we have and we are now going to do the same all over again.

"We have got to learn to be grown up about this and take responsibility. We are in a bigger mess than anyone else because we didn't put it up - I cannot support a zero growth in Council Tax."

Cllr Ian Melhuish said if the council failed to impose an increase, it would be no further forward.

"We could find ourselves in four years' time with the same tax base," he said.

"The Government has already told us that we are the authors of our own misfortune."

But Cllr Dave Westcott said new legislation expected to take effect later this year would mean that next year a referendum could be held to test local people's views on whether Council Tax should be raised.

"We should not be giving away the chance of £50,000 of Government money now - let the people decide next year."

Council leader Cllr Tim Taylor admitted that West Somerset's Council Tax was low and around 26 per cent below the average for district authorities.

He said tax increases would have to be considered in the future but Council Taxpayers had to be protected this year.

Cllr Taylor said almost £1.7m of savings had to be made over the next four years.

"We know this is going to be tough and we will have to make huge cuts over the next two years."

Any 'slippage' on making the savings would threaten the viability of the council and staff redundancies were inevitable, with the cuts likely to make a real impact on services in the 2012/13 financial year.

"I really feel that freezing our Council Tax and accepting the incentive is the right choice for local people in today's tough climate."

The move to increase Council Tax was lost by 14 votes to seven, meaning the district's householders will see their bills rise by an average of just 0.29 per cent - one of the lowest average overall rises ever.

An average Band D property will pay around 8p a week - or £4.21 a year - more in the new financial year.

And overall that will mean an annual £1,452.63 bill for all public services from county, district, police, fire and rescue and local town and parish authorities.

The district council set a budget of £4.89, for 2011/12, with potential savings of £575,000 being achieved through a variety of ways, including £272,000 in internal council savings.

Councillors are hoping to negotiate a staff pay freeze and there will also be a series of management or service reviews, some of which will involve redundancies in areas including senior management, the Minehead Visitor and Information Centre, grounds maintenance, customer services, development control and corporate services.