CIVIC leaders in Bournemouth say they will be struggling to avoid a punishing council tax hike of 20 per cent next year.

An increase on that scale would outstrip almost any tax rise in the country last year.

The news comes as Bournemouth council starts looking at ways to chop budgets next year.

Officials had previously warned council tax could rise by up to 16.7 per cent in 2004 unless cuts were made.

Cllr Adrian Fudge, the Liberal Democrat cabinet member in charge of the budget, accused the former Tory leadership of setting an "unsustainable" budget before it lost power in May.

He said the extra budget pressures were now pointing to a rise of 20 per cent unless savings were found. Officers would be asked to keep looking for efficiency savings.

Cllr Fudge said: "Cuts in services are the last thing we want to do. It's a question of trying to encourage them to find cost efficiencies. You cannot keep going back to the council tax payer and saying 'You're going to pay more'. It's not an option."

He added: "We're going to try and reintroduce a reward scheme for staff members who come up with initiatives that would save money."

The Liberal Democrats have already cut £380,000 from leisure and tourism budgets after being told the department was on course for a £630,000 overspend. The cuts hit tourist information, beach staffing and playground improvements and could force the closure of the town's aviary. Beach cleaning was also cut but has since been stepped up again.

Cllr John Beesley, who did Cllr Fudge's job in the former Conservative administration, said: "I do not accept that we set an unsustainable budget. I think he and his colleagues are failing in their jobs and their duty of making sure they're able to meet those budgets.

"What they've done is just to accept what they've been told and put their hands up and say 'We'll blame the previous administration and there's nothing we can do about it'. That isn't running the council, that's denying responsibility."

He added: "I think it's scare-mongering if they're talking about an increase even higher than 16.7 per cent. If we had won the election and I had been in the same position in cabinet, I'm confident I would have been moving a council tax increase of less than that figure of 16.7 per cent. That was a worst case scenario picked out of an officer's report."