THE bill has finally arrived for decisions taken some 30 years ago. Back in the late 1970s, when recruitment into the police was low, a package was approved offering better wages and pension terms. It solved the problem at the time and the enhanced pension terms would not need to be worried about for three decades.

Now the bill has arrived. Those policemen and women, having put in their service, are due their pension - but, as is the way of the world, little if anything, has been done about preparing for the inevitable.

That is why today's North Yorkshire Police Authority is having to ask the people it serves what would you prefer us to do? The authority offers two options - it could cut police numbers, or it could put up its share of our council tax bills.

At the moment the bill we receive each April includes an amount, of £62, to pay for our police service. To meet shortfalls it will have to go up by about a third, which sounds a lot, or about 40 pence a week, which doesn't.

Alas, if only it ended there. We have already heard ominous warnings from county hall that they are faced with similar increased demands on their coffers and they too have no alternative but to raise the council tax bill (a figure of around 10 per cent has been bandied about).

The number of police officers in the county is at an all-time high. The police have high visibility policies and our impression is that the public is much more aware of their presence and less critical than they were say three years ago.

We suspect that, given the choice, a vast majority of households would be willing to pay that extra £20 or so a year to at least maintain the strength of the force.

We may be wrong. The police authority welcomes your views and you can write to our two Craven representatives on the North Yorkshire Police Authority: Jean Anderson, of Sunnybank Cottage, Draughton, Skipton, and Mike Doyle, 37 Bright Street, Skipton.