THE elusive £1 million "missing" from City of York Council's cash-starved coffers looks set to be reclaimed in time for the setting of next year's council tax bills, it emerged today.

The retrieval of the mysterious "missing million" to pay for road maintenance would bring some consolation to householders facing, on average, a whopping £67 rise on their council tax bill, come April.

The head of finance at the City of York Council, Simon Wiles, said: "It appears that we are now on the brink of having confirmed that York will receive an estimated extra £1 million in 1999/2000."

The news means the Government may have accepted York's argument that it was not being paid for work the council does to maintain some of York's trunk roads. But the cash will not be forthcoming until next year.

Meanwhile, householders' bills will rise 11 per cent tax, which the council says is necessary as it struggles to bridge a £10 million shortfall in the budget.

In January, a high-powered delegation from York went on a mission to Westminster to argue the case for more cash and point out an error in the way the council's highway budget was calculated.

It also said it was £1.1 million down on the amount it could borrow for large-scale "capital" projects, such as building school annexes.

The Government agreed the city should get this cash, but again not until next year.

The "missing million" cash is needed to pay for certain roads that are maintained by the City of York Council, but did not have the appropriate assessment of their traffic flow included when the Government was deciding how much funding York needed.

The amount will be entirely additional Government funding through revenue support grant.

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