COUNCIL taxpayers in York and North Yorkshire will pay an average of £26 more this year to keep a record number of police officers on the streets.

Members of North Yorkshire Police Authority today unanimously backed a 40 per cent increase in the part of council tax bills which will fund policing for 2002/2003.

Band D properties will see the police precept on their bills rise from £62.59 to £88.59.

The authority says the move will allow the North Yorkshire force to keep the highest number of officers the force has ever had and to plough £1 million into pension reserves and £1.1 million into general reserves.

The authority has faced increasing problems due to the large numbers of officers retiring. It currently has 400 more pensioners than it does serving officers.

Policing major incidents, such as the Selby rail crash, has left just £2,800 in reserves.

But a meeting of the authority today was told it could soon receive £900,000 from the Government to offset the cost of policing the rail disaster.

The authority held a series of eight public meetings across the county to gauge public opinion on a proposed rise in the precept.

The overwhelming response was that people wished to keep police numbers at their current record height and were willing to pay extra to maintain that.

Chief constable David Kenworthy told members that previously there had been a "perverse pride" in North Yorkshire being one of the cheapest forces in the country. He added that if North Yorkshire was going to be the leading rural force in the country, it would cost.

Graeme Robertson, vice- chairman of the authority, told the meeting that the increase was inevitable if the authority did not want to be having to make "a further painful decision" in 12 months.

Updated: 14:45 Monday, February 04, 2002