COUNCIL bosses reacted with anger yesterday after being told they were to receive the minimum amount of Government funding - for the second year running.

Although Scarborough Borough Council, which reaches as far as Whitby, has a funding gap of £1.4m, its pleas for more help from Whitehall have fallen on deaf ears.

Their final financial settlement for the coming year is only £10.65m, only a fraction more than the authority was provisionally offered late last year.

The average settlement for local authorities throughout the country is 7.5 per cent; up on last year's final figure, and some have received as much as 12.5 per cent more.

But Scarborough's settlement represents the minimum increase of three per cent - which the council says will have a direct impact on council tax payers.

The news came as the authority was looking at a range of options, with possible council tax increases ranging from three to ten per cent.

Council leader Eileen Bosomworth described the settlement as "disastrous" and said: "It does not offer any hope for the poor council tax payer of the borough who will end up having to bear the brunt of it."

She said: "We had a very strong case for a higher settlement to meet the additional demands placed on us by the Government itself, such as the introduction of concessionary fares, recycling and electronic service delivery.

"We are also facing a bill for CCTV (closed circuit television cameras) as well as other unavoidable costs like increased insurance premiums and reduced investment income."

She said the council had made efficiency savings of £3m during the past years but there was a limit to how far they could go: "We have reached the point where further cuts would have a drastic effect on the services we provide and we will now have little option but to look to the council tax payer to fill the gap left by the Government."

The council tax bill is about 15 per cent of the total and is presently £145.95 for a band D property.