THE Evening Press can today reveal the size of the council tax bills that are likely to drop through York residents' door.

The total for an average Band D property is provisionally set at £1,119.40.

This figure - up from about £1,070 last year - includes precepts for the city council and fire and police authorities, but does not include the parish council element.

The highest Band D bill including the parish council element in the city looks set to be in Heslington at £1,147.01, with the lowest in Hessay at £1,125.40.

City of York Council's part of the bill is due to increase by just under five per cent - the figure set by Government to avoid capping, meaning last year's inflation-busting rise of 8.5 per cent was never a realistic option for the ruling Liberal Democrats.

Councillors will discuss the proposed 4.96 per cent increase at Tuesday's full council meeting.

That rise will take the Guildhall's slice of the bill from £848.75 last year to £890.82 for average non-parish properties.

Members of North Yorkshire Police Authority have agreed a precept hike of 2.62 per cent, taking a Band D property to £176.

And the county fire chiefs recently rubberstamped a 4.04 per cent rise which will lift the Band D contribution to £52.58.

The budget will be finalised on Tuesday night at a 6.30pm meeting at the Guildhall.

Elsewhere, Conservative-run North Yorkshire County Council has agreed a 4.94 per cent increase, meaning its Band D payment has risen from £817 to £857. This total does not include precepts for emergency services or district councils.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council will discuss a 4.9 per cent hike today. If passed, it will take the final Band D bill to £1,005.88.

York council leader Coun Steve Galloway told a budget executive meeting last week that he thought the financial blueprint was the best the Liberal Democrats were able to come up with against the background of the present Government's grant and council tax policies.

Today we print the council's projected council tax demands for Band D homes - and also Band B and C properties which make up more than half the total of York properties. For financial reasons, the Government classes a Band D property as average. But York council finance chiefs confirmed that of the city's 81,600 homes, 23,700 are Band B while 24,300 fall into the Band C category.

Updated: 10:18 Thursday, February 17, 2005