WYCOMBE district councillors will decide on February 26 how much people's council tax bills will go up next year.

It is unlikely to be as small an increase as last year, when bills went up three per cent.

The council needs to spend £15.7 million next year £1.2 million more than in 2000/2001.

The increase is largely due to the extra £930,000 the council is having to pay Onyx for the new rubbish collection contract.

Most of the £15.7 million will come from government grants and income, with the rest from the council taxpayer.

This year people living in the average Band D homes are paying £89.16 for district services such as rubbish collection, flood prevention, car parks and markets, street sweeping, community centres, and sports, facilities.

County council services are £645.70, the police £60.34, and town and parish expenses average £25.34. Total Band D bill in High Wycombe was £820.54.

The smallest district council tax rise for next year would just take account of inflation, and would be 2.5 per cent. But that would leave the council short of money.

If councillors decide to spend the maximum possible without incurring government penalties, the increase could be as high as 14.1 per cent and would give them an extra £202,000 on extra schemes or just keep. This would mean its Band D Council tax would be £101.70.

The most likely increase would be in between. When the government told Wycombe how much it needed to spend to provide services in the coming year, its Standard Spending Assessment or SSA, it said rate rises should be about five per cent.