A LAST-MINUTE budget deal means average band council taxpayers will be paying an extra £60.95 a year to Worcestershire County Council from April.

In a move that thwarted an alternative Conservative budget on the eve of the County Hall budget meeting, Labour and Liberal Democrat groups joined forces to agree a 9.96 per cent increase for the coming year.

Conservative councillors angered at the last-minute move that secured a majority vote on the £378 million budget claimed taxpayers had been treated as if, as party leader June Longmuir put it, their pockets were "bottomless pits".

A Tory 6.8 per cent proposal was withdrawn after the opposition pact was sealed on the grounds there was no point in putting forward a scheme doomed for defeat.

The council agreed from April to include £218.4 million on education, £86.7 million on social services and £33.2 million on environmental services.

The two parties had previously put forward separate proposals with Labour suggesting a 9.78 per cent hike compared with the Liberal Democrats' 10.7.

The compromise means an increased contribution of £1.17-a-week for Band D property payers.

Stourport's Severn ward councillor and leader of the Labour Group Carol Warren highlighted education as a key point of conflict with the Conservatives who she said wanted to spend £4 million less on education.

She said this amounted to £50 less per child and would have resulted in withdrawing £200,000 Achievement Zone money from Harry Cheshire High School, Kidderminster, and its pyramid schools.

But Chaddesley Conservative county councillor Stephen Clee, said the Tory proposal would have reduced the burden on taxpayers while putting more into social services, roads and schools.

The Conservative budget would have given schools £900,000 for headteachers to spend as they liked instead of taking up the £1.7m option on schemes promoted by the Department for Education and Employment.