FAMILIES in Weymouth and Portland look set to see rises in their council tax bills limited to below 10 per cent next year.

Residents were hit for one of the biggest council tax rises in the country earlier this year - a 53 per cent increase in the borough's part of the overall bill - as councillors struggled to plug a budget black hole.

The borough council now admits it must be more disciplined in its approach to setting the council tax and help families budget for the rise.

Councillors said they wanted to display 'strong political leadership and direction' while not stinging taxpayers for huge increases.

The management committee includes representatives of all the political parties on the council except the Tories, who have refused to take up their one seat. Yesterday the committee agreed to a proposal by finance spokesman, Councillor Kay Wilcox, to keep next year's council tax increase to single figures.

They also supported a move to avoid imposing massive increases in the future. The borough's share of the bill should now be calculated by adding the percentage increase in council tax assumed by central government when allocating the revenue support grant to the rate of inflation, they said.

A letter is today winging its way to all the chairmen of the council policy and scrutiny committees asking for feedback on the plan. But councillors will be faced with difficult decisions in the months ahead as they try to keep down costs in an effort to limit council tax bills.

They will have to look at whether council assets should be sold off, part-privatised or axed altogether. That could include radical overhaul of the way the beach, pavilion, swimming pool and other attractions are operated.

Coun Wilcox told the committee: "This commitment to local residents gives some predictability while also setting a framework and a discipline for us.

"As we ask the policy and scrutiny committees to make difficult choices over services we need to set that in a context of a maximum amount that we are prepared to ask council tax payers to find."

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council's share of the council tax only represents a small amount of the total bill. Precepts by Dorset County Council and Dorset Police also have to be added.

Leader of Dorset County Council Tim Palmer said it was hard to predict the county's share of the council tax because it depended on the amount of government grant allocated towards the end of the year.

However he said there was a cause for concern because there were signs that rural authorities like Dorset would lose out on funding next year to the urban metropolitan authorities in the north, leaving Dorset council tax payers to foot the bill for services.

Low increases in council tax at borough level will mean that extra savings would have to be found in Weymouth and Portland Borough Council's budget. Current financial forecasting puts the gap at as much as £1.9 million.

The management committee has been urged to develop a policy on increases in council tax as part of a financial strategy drawn up by head of financial services Jason Vaughan.

Although agreeing in principle to Coun Wilcox's proposal Lib Dem management committee members Brian Ellis and Howard Legg argued that it would be dangerous to build in a government assumption when drawing up a policy.

They said there would be no guarantees the same government would be in power a few years down the line, or indeed the same borough councillors would be sitting round the table next year.

Coun Legg warned: "You're putting yourselves in a straightjacket."

The proposal will have to get the backing of the full council while the financial strategy will be discussed by various committees and special workshops over the next few months.