TEST Valley's Band-D council taxpayers are likely to pay an extra £4.59p for the borough's services this year.

Borough finance chiefs say the proposed increase will bring their borough's share of the tax bill to £99 for a Band D home and is about 9 per cent of the total bill householders will have to pay this coming financial year.

Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Fire and Rescue and Hampshire Police Authority's demands have yet to be announced.

Borough cabinet members will look at the proposed budget before it goes before the full council on February 25th.

Councillors have a budget of £10.3million this coming year to spend on services and improvements across the Test Valley.

Borough leader and cabinet chief Ian Carr, said: "A recommended council tax of less than five per cent from the borough council represents a significant achievement when you consider the extra things we are setting out to do. We have also to cover new costs imposed by the government and other external pressures, which have added over £500,000 to the budget. Although we have managed to balance the budget this year, we have not been able to reduce our reliance on our reserves as much as we had hoped, which means we face an ever bigger challenge next year."