YOU will have to answer to the people of Bury in the May 2 local elections!

That was the Tory warning to Labour as the town hall's ruling group formally imposed a 6.5 per cent hike in council tax.

It raises the bill for a Band A house to £646, and to £970 for a Band D property (see table on this page for full rates).

Senior Conservatives said Labour had been in control of Bury for 16 years, and the country for five years, and it was time to stop blaming previous governments.

"Here we are again -- another rate rise above the rate of inflation," Tory leader David Higgin told Wednesday' (Feb 27) council meeting.

"Between 1994 and 2002, pensioners' incomes have gone up by 32.5 per cent and the council tax increase in that time by has been 70.6 per cent.

"How does the council expect people like pensioners to afford such swingeing increases? Pensioners are being forced to use their winter fuel allowance to pay the bill."

Coun Higgin said the Government had to accept some of the blame: it funded Bury by £118 per head less than the Greater Manchester average.

He added: "Bury MP David Chaytor should hang his head in shame."

Coun Higgin proposed a last minute amendment which would bring down the council tax rise from 6.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

He would find the money from three sources: removing £250,000 set aside to fund improvements in areas of poor performance; reduce the £1 million set aside for future social services overspends to £750,000; and save £500,000 across the council on work carried out "under the guise" of Best Value.

Coun Higgin said improvements should be found through good management, and it was wrong for people to pay into a fund in case problems were encountered later. Coun Wilf Davison, Lib Dem leader, wanted to trim the increase to six per cent.

He would pay for this by putting in an extra £11,000 from balances, and scrapping £250,000 set aside for key issues over the coming year.

"We are not clear how this key issue money will be spent," he said.

Fellow Lib Dem councillor Tim Pickstone added: "Bury is hard done by, however we don't think it's correct to pass on to council tax payers a rate higher than that recommended by the Government."

However, both amendments were voted out. Earlier, Labour councillor Derek Boden, executive member for resource, had outlined the reasons behind Bury's budget.

He said that late changes to the funding system had switched money to London, and cost Bury £700,000.

The Government had given Bury a funding increase of 4.2 per cent, which was 1.1 per cent below the national average.

Coun Boden said that social services, which was forecast to be in the red again, faced severe budget pressures. It was necessary, therefore, to set aside £1 million to help balance the budget if needed.

He reminded members that, despite the tax increase being higher than average, Bury would still have the second lowest council tax in Greater Manchester.

WHAT YOU WILL PAY:

Band A...£646.73 (up from £607.26)

Band B...£754.52 (£708.47)

Band C...£862.30 (£809.67)

Band D...£970.09 (£910.89)

Band E...£1,185.66 (£1,113.31)

Band F...£1,401.24 (£1,315.73)

Band G...£1,616.82 (£1,518.15)

Band H...£1,940.18 (£1,821.78)