LEDBURY householders are facing a 9.23% increase in their council tax bills from the town council next year, as town councillors consider which, if any, extra services should be taken on from Herefordshire Council.

The town council agreed last week to set to the precept above inflation, as councillors decided to build some flexibility into how the budget can be spent.

Cllr Liz Harvey, who is both a town and county councillor, speaking at last week's meeting, said: "We should be confident of going with this as a precept, and be confident of moving money around, as the priorities become clear."

Those priorities could include extra grass cutting duties for the town council and boosting the Citizen'sAdvice Bureau grant from £1800 to £6000, both as a result of Herefordshire Council cuts to local services.

None of this possible extra spending, however, has yet been formally rubber-stamped by the town council.

And the move to fund more services worried some town councillors.

Cllr Richard Hadley said: "We are in unprecedented circumstances here. There is money we can move around, but then there are hard choices to make.

"Are we going to pick up the tab for the cuts of Herefordshire Council? That's a wider question. I think that we need to seek permission from the ratepayers before taking these decisions. We need some kind of mandate."

Cllr Hadley added: "Where does it stop? We have to somehow get a grip on this."

Deputy Mayor, Cllr Rob Yeoman said: "Do we cut more grass or support the CAB? We have to make priority choices here.

"The CAB gets my vote, over slightly shorter grass."

Cllr Tony Bradford said the town council "could not afford not to support the CAB", because of the service it offers to desperate people in the present economic climate.

He said: "There are a lot of desperate people out there, queuing up. At Hereford there are long queues. This is not the right time for a local authority to cut money from the CAB."

But several town councillors said that if the CAB budget is to be boosted next year, the price could be an extended service in Ledbury.

Currently, the CAB only comes to the Information Centre on St Katherine's car park on the first and third Tuesday each month, from 9.30am to 2.30pm.

But the Cllr Terry Widdows, a Herefordshire councillor for Ledbury, and a town councillor, spoke out strongly in favour of funding more grass cutting.

He said: "We as a town council did nothing to contribute to grass cutting last year. I feel quite strongly about this; the issue is important enough for the people of the town to go out and cut the grass on their own initiative, so their children can play."

Ledbury's mayor, Cllr Bob Barnes said: "Our budget now is to deliver our own services. None of this will consider what Herefordshire Council is cutting and devolved services.These are negotiations to be had."

Town councillors vote to approve the 9.23% precept rise with 11 in favour, three against and one abstention.

The total net expenditure for the town council, in the next year financial year, is set at £321,251, with £5,650 budgeted for possible flexibility, in a new "Participatory Budgeting" basket.

The increase will add around £7 a year for the town council part of a Band D council tax bill.