WEST Mercia Constabulary needs more money in order to maintain its current level of spending, which could mean higher council taxes.

A budget proposal states that in order to raise £173m for 2005/6 more than £61m would have to come from a 6.2 per cent increase in the current Band D tax of £137.69, which is less than 10 per cent of the total council tax bill.

However, the Government has said that it expects all local authorities to budget prudently and that the average council tax increase should be less than five per cent or councils would face capping.

The budget proposal, which was discussed on Wednesday by South Worcestershire Community Policing Board, estimates that a council tax increase of just under five per cent - 4.92 per cent - would be the equivalent of losing funding for 24 police officers.

But if the 6.2 per cent precept is issued the police authority would face a cost of more than £500,000 to re-bill households.

Despite the low level of funding the meeting heard that the latest force figures show reported crime in the April to December period dropped by 13.6 per cent between 2003 and 2004.

The Government grant is expected to be around £112m, which is a 3.75 per cent increase on 2004/5.

This would amount to a standstill budget.