TAXPAYERS will have the opportunity to have their say on spending by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

The authority is holding a series of consultation meetings to discuss its financial plans to deliver a 4.9 per cent council tax rise, or the alternative of service cuts.

Councillors are debating the 2008-9 budget and the options include a 4.9 per cent tax increase, a 3.6 per cent increase, with a £650,000 cut in planned spending, or a less-than-inflation rise, which would mean further cuts in services.

There will be a consultation covering the public, council workers, unions and other interested groups.

The first public meeting will be held at the James Finegan Hall, Eston, on Thursday.

Others will be held at Redcar Central Library, on Monday, and at the council's offices, in Belmont House, Rectory Lane, Guisborough, next Tuesday.

Council leader George Dunning said: "Budget-setting is always a very difficult process - juggling competing priorities - and we are determined to get as many views as possible on the options before we make our decision in March."

But he warned that the council is having to cope with an estimated £7m-plus deficit, caused by Government funding rules that affect councils nationwide.

A delegation, including the borough's MPs, Vera Baird and Dr Ashok Kumar, has met Baroness Andrews in the House of Lords to put Redcar and Cleveland's case for withdrawing the dampening formula, and the release of extra funding.

Coun Dunning said: "The council is set to lose £3.8m next year in general grant, and £3.5m on Supporting People grant. For far too long, the council has been subsidising other boroughs far better off than us with this iniquitous dampening formula, which gives our money to the richer southern boroughs.

"If we are serious about closing the North-South divide, then ditching the unfair dampening formula would send out the right messages here in Redcar and Cleveland, which traditionally loses out with its urban and rural problems. Of course, an extra £7m will go some way to filling the council's budget deficit."

The council's cabinet meets today to debate the first stage in the process of setting its budget and medium-term financial plan.

Councillors will be studying officers' recommendations that are demanding savings of more than £5m to deliver the preferred option.