MOST council tax bills in Derwentside are set to rise by nearly £35 a year after the district council voted through its budget for the coming year.

Bills across the district are set to rise by 3.9 per cent in the coming financial year and with 70 per cent of the district's properties falling into Band A, most households will have to find an extra £33.59 during the next 12 months.

The bulk of the increase is down to a 4.6 per cent rise in the amount paid to Durham County Council after Derwentside District Council voted to increase its element of the bill by 2.5 per cent.

District council leader Alex Watson also pledged the authority would keep future increases in line with inflation for the next three years.

He said: "We obviously believe that it is affordable. We have already, for the next three years, factored in a tax increase of no more than 2.5 per cent. We are giving that commitment.

"Council tax is a big issue and people have no choice but to accept it and don't like it.

"Pensioners find it hard to understand when their own pension increase is 2.8 per cent. Anything above that they feel is not justified."

As well as paying for the work of the two authorities, part of the bill goes to DurhamConstabulary, which increased its precept by 4.9 per cent, and Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, which actually lowered its precept by 1.1 per cent.

DerwentsideDistrict Council expects to bring in £13.6m - £6.45m in council tax and £7.1m in Government grants.

Its main commitments are environmental services such as a street cleaning, refuse collections, grass cutting and recycling programmes, which cost the council £4.5m annually.

The council also maintains leisure facilities such as sports centres, swimming pools, football pitches and theatres, costing £4.1m.

Coun Watson said that despite keeping the rise at 2.5 per cent the authority was still planning for growth and would invest further in recycling initiatives.

He said: "We intend to introduce a green waste collection service for grass cuttings and hedge trimmings for selected areas during the spring and summer.

"We are also introducing a collection service for paper and cardboard for schools and offices from April."

The council will also be funding the installation of smoke alarms for the hard of hearing.

Council tax band rates, for 2005 with 2004 rate in brackets are as follows:

A £894.19 (£860.60)

B £1043.23 (£1004.03)

C £1192.26 (£1147.47)

D £1341.29 (£1290.90)

E £1639.35 (£1577.77)

F £1937.42 (£1864.63)

G £2235.48 (£2151.50)

H £2682.58 (£2581.80)

* The increases in County Durham are above inflation this year to offset a £12m equal pay claim from county council staff.

The authority, like others, has been involved in protracted negotiations with the trade unions to resolve a dispute over the grading of different posts, which unions say discriminate against female employees such as school cooks in favour of traditional male posts such as road sweepers.

Durham County Council leader Ken Manton described the issue of equal pay as 'the elephant in the corner' and said that the authority had taken the decision to deal with the issue now.