TO control the exorbitant yearly council tax increases, Michael Brooks suggests all council officers paid more than £30,000 a year should surrender ten per cent of it if the council tax increase exceeds inflation (Letters, March 18).

He need set his sights no higher.

According to the annual reports of the District Auditor on the accounts of the city council, the number of officers paid more than £40,000 in April 2000 was 34. Three years later, in April 2003, it had risen to 108.

An increase in highly-paid officials of more than 300 per cent demands justification, not just explanation.

The number paid in excess of only £30,000 will, of course, be many times that and how many of them contribute nothing to the provision of services to the paying public?

The hundreds of targets and performance indicators which so many officials spend their time manipulating should all be replaced by only one - the level of council tax increase, which in a really "modernised" council is what should condition their salaries and those of the elected members too.

Ken Beavan,

Albemarle Road,

York.

...YOUR correspondents Tony Gregory, Mike Newsome, CW Harland and D Allen (Letters, March 19) are quite right to complain about the presentation of the council tax rise.

It was my responsibility to agree the presentation with council officers. I was determined we would not have the problem as highlighted in the letters you have published.

I agreed with officers that we would show the increases on the council tax statements as set out below:

City of York Council:

8.53 per cent

Fire and rescue authority:

9.85 per cent

Police authority:

9.94 per cent

Overall increase:

9.20 per cent.

These are the figures for areas which do not have a parish council.

Residents living in a parished area have to add in the parish council precept which may change the overall increase figure, if only slightly.

Unfortunately, my hopes of avoiding this easily foreseeable confusion were dashed when central Government sent out a special formula which told us how we had to present increases for councils such as York which were undergoing a change of funding for the fire and rescue authority.

This advice was received just before we began printing the 80,000-plus council tax bills for York.

There was no time to enter into serious debate with the Government on what they would and would not accept.

The best we could come up with in the time available was the brief explanation printed at the bottom of the council tax bill.

Although it does not appear credible, 2.93 per cent is technically the correct figure for the increase in council tax because of the change to the method of funding the fire and rescue authority.

The blame for this misleading presentation lies unquestionably with central Government and its civil servants and not with City of York Council.

Coun Quentin Macdonald,

Executive member for resources,

City of York Council,

Manor Farm,

Church Lane,

Nether Poppleton,

York.

Updated: 12:04 Wednesday, March 24, 2004