Southend's residents will have to wait more than a month to find out how much their pockets will be hit by next year's council tax increase.
The spending plans of the council's cabinet will first go to scrutiny committees for a detailed examination and then come back again before a final council decision in February.
Council leader Charles Latham said: "We cannot give the council tax figures today as we do not have the final Government figures or the proposals from either the fire or the police authority."
Mr Latham said he was convinced the council tax figure in Southend would be lower than in neighbouring areas, such as Castle Point and Rochford, even if there was no increase by the county council, which was extremely unlikely.
Education spending will be at the level set by the Government.
Social services will exceed this figure by £2million or five per cent of its total spending.
Published Wednesday, January 15, 2003
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