THE latest round of redundancies affecting senior staff at Bromsgrove District Council is to cost the authority more than a quarter of a million ponds.

But residents have been assured that they will not face a hike in their council tax bills to pay for the cuts.

The decision to release up to £232,000 from reserves was taken at a behind closed doors meeting of the full council last Wednesday.

The money will fund early retirement and redundancy packages for 18 officers who learnt their fate the following morning when they turned up for work at the Council House.

The cuts involve the 'second tier' of management and follow a similar pruning exercise a few months ago when several departmental heads rolled after their own jobs were merged.

The latest job losses are said to be vital to the council's recovery from a decade of indifferent management which meant the authority had to call in the Government to oversee its running.

Had it not done so and initiated a recovery plan, the Government would have stepped in to run the authority.

Council leader Roger Hollingworth (Con-Alvechurch) said the chief executive and corporate director of resources have been given delegated powers, along with himself and the portfolio holder for personnel, to consider how the money will be allocated.

But, he stressed, it will not have a bearing on council tax bills, which he and his cabinet have pledged to keep to a minimum.

However, Labour group leader Councillor Peter McDonald (Waseley) was critical. He said the council's over generous payments to those who left recently had created a financial 'black hole' which had now to be filled from reserves to pay for the latest redundancies.

He said these latest victims were 'work horses' who made the council 'tick' and called now for a period of stability among the workforce.

Cllr Hollingworth said the lost jobs are not vital to providing services the public says it wants, and every effort will be made to redeploy those whose jobs will disappear.