NEIGHBOURING councils are set to freeze council tax for this year – but bills in Richmondshire will be significantly higher than those in Hambleton.

Hambleton District Council taxpayers in average Band D homes will be paying £112 less than their Richmondshire counterparts.

Council officials say there are historical budgetary reasons for the difference in charges.

The figures relate only to the district council part of the total tax bill. Taxpayers in both areas will pay, in addition, £212 for the police service, and £1,099 for North Yorkshire County Council services, along with a payment for the fire and rescue service which last year was £63. Additional payments could also be due for parish and town councils.

Members of Hambleton Council’s cabinet pegged average bills for the fifth year running at £89.48, while Richmondshire’s rate is £201.

Both authorities took advantage of offers from the government of grants if they froze council tax. In Hambleton, that avoided the need to increase the Band D rate by £2.24 this year.

The leader of Hambleton District Council, Cllr Mark Robson, said the council enjoyed a favourable financial position compared to the majority of councils, and particularly neighbouring authorities. He said: “Once again we are freezing council tax for our residents, and at the same time freezing all our fees and charges.

“We are doing it without making any cuts to the services we provide. By astute long-term planning, the council’s financial strategy means Hambleton is still the third lowest charging authority in the country.”

The full council is expected to approve the budget of £6.918 million for 2015-16 later this month, retaining £19.243 million in reserves.

Richmondshire District Council is due to set an average Band D tax of £201.40 a year to fund a budget of £6.384 million.

Council leader John Blackie said that 20 years ago, Hambleton sold off council houses to a housing association, which meant it had large capital receipts to bolster its already handsome reserves.

“Our council tenants wanted to stay with Richmondshire so we didn’t get the capital receipts – so it is right to stress this is historical, they have a lot of reserves and that is why they have a low council tax,” he said.

“Our council tax is fully in line with other comparable councils. But we have over the past few years had no cuts in services, no compulsory redundancies and we have managed to put £1.5m into our local communities to support local infrastructure, so we have been extremely prudent.”

In Ryedale last year the authority’s portion of council tax was £176.72 and in Harrogate it was £219.56.