A PROPOSED council tax increase of nearly four per cent is close to being agreed.

Darlington Borough Council faces further budget cuts of £12.9m and hope to bridge the deficit with a tax hike.

But councillors have said it’s impossible to know the full impact of November’s Autumn Statement until early next year.

In a cabinet meeting this week, council leader Bill Dixon told members a 3.99 per cent tax increase is the maximum rise allowed – which includes a two per cent levy on adult social care.

“We don’t have a lot of choice and even that two per cent won’t cover the costs," he said.

“We’re not going to be better off, we’re just going to be less ‘worse off’ because of it.”

The recommended council tax increase is part of a proposed package for the town that has already seen funding cuts of £35m and 527 job losses since 2010.

Cllr Stephen Harker said: “At this stage, we don’t know how much we have to cut.

“We can’t really consult with residents at the moment and we won’t be able to implement this for the next financial year.

“We still need that money that we’ve lost from the government so we really need to make that increase.”

Darlington’s public health services are also up for review as an extra £500,000 must be found on top of £2.7m savings already made in the area.

The town’s Conservative leader Heather Scott said: “It’s very early days yet. It will be a while until we know what the autumn statement meant and what it’ll mean for us.

“We don’t know all of the details yet, but it is going to have a big impact on the town.”

A report at the meeting stated that Darlington has the second lowest council tax rate in the North-East and that a one per cent increase generates £393,000.

But concerns over the council’s ability to provide essential services to the brough were also raised.

The report said: “The severity of the levels of reductions anticipated were explored by the Budget Advisory Panels in public sessions during the summer of 2013 when the question, ‘will the Council have sufficient revenue to cover its legally required services?’ was addressed.

“The findings suggested that it was likely the council would potentially not have sufficient funds.”

Further Government pressures will see grants given to the council being cut from nearly £24m to £13m by 2020.

The proposed tax hike will be scrutinised and followed by a cabinet meeting in the spring then a final council decision in July 2016.