HOUSEHOLDS in Bramhope and Carlton may be expected to pay a total of £50 per year to cover spending by their parish council.

Bramhope Parish Council, already one of the three highest chargers in the Leeds area, is considering raising its total precept on the parish from £35,000 to £50,000.

Each household may have to pay £50 to the parish council each year, and councillors are asking villagers to attend next month's budget meeting, to hear their proposals and the reasons.

Councillor Alistair Thompson told the council he did not want to raise the amount to £50,000 at his next budget, and would prefer to raise it to between £40,000 to £45,000.

However, he said projected spending meant the council would cut substantially into its reserves next year.

He said: "Most things will be contained within the budget, but there are certain items not budgeted for which come to £6,500. This does mean that we should be quite under our reserves."

Coun Thompson said one reason for the increase was that they had not increased the precept in the last budget.

While some councillors said most inhabitants of Bramhope and Carlton could afford to pay the increased amount, others pointed out not everyone in the parish is wealthy.

The council is debating how it can reduce spending.

The village's lengthman is due to retire in April and councillors are

looking into providing some services privately, instead of employing another full-time lengthman.

And Councillor Geoff Mills said: "We should raise money if we feel the

expenditure legitimately is an

investment in the village.

"If that's not the case, then the logical conclusion is that we should review ourselves."

The budget will be presented at

the parish council meeting on November 22.