A LAST minute decision to cut government cash for free travel for the elderly and disabled has ruined the chance of a zero rise in Bexley’s council tax this year.

An angry ruling Tory group said without the move by the government to renege on its three-year funding agreement for London’s Freedom Pass, Bexley residents would have enjoyed a freeze in council tax payments.

At a council cabinet meeting on Monday, councillors were told the decision to reduce the agreed government contribution to the cost of the pass by £30m, up from £28m in December, had left Bexley and all the other London boroughs with an unexpected £1m bill each.

Finance director Mike Ellsmore told cabinet members the decision had come too late in the budget process to be able to cover the extra £1m.

As a result, Bexley’s council tax will rise by one per cent from April.

But the council was keen to stress its share of the council tax and that of the Greater London Authority (GLA), have been frozen.

When the GLA is taken into account the overall rise falls to 0.8 per cent. It means the annual council tax for a Band D council taxpayer will rise by £11 over the coming year.

No money has been taken from the council’s reserve to support the council tax, which means the council’s general fund contains just over £10m.

Around two thirds of local authority spending is paid for through government cash, with the remaining third raised through the council tax.

Deputy council leader, Councillor Simon Windle said Bexley, together with Bromley received the lowest government grant of less than £300 per person.

He contrasted this with neighbouring Greenwich which receives £721 per person and Lewisham which gets £716.

He said: “We have to charge our residents £400 council tax each just to stand still against them.”

Mr Ellsmore said in the past three years, the council had found £17m worth of savings.

He said the decision to freeze the pay of middle and senior council staff had saved £700,000 which in turn had paid for the extra emergency help for child social care in the wake of the Baby P case.

Councillor Peter Craske said councillors had also contributed their own savings of £400,000 by scrapping refreshments at meetings, cutting members’ allowances by £50,000 and abolishing the scheme to provide free computers for councillors.

If the rise is approved at next week’s council meeting, the council tax increase for 2010/11 will be: Band A up from £951.33 to £958.94; Band B up from £1,109.89 to £1,118.76; Band C up from £1,268.44 to £1,278.59; Band D up from £1,427 to £1,438.41; Band E up from £1,744.11 to £1,758.06; Band F up from £2,061.22 to £2,077.70; Band G up from £2,378.33 to £2,397.35; Band H up from £2,854 to £2,876.82.