HALTON Council chiefs will today announce cuts amounting to £3.8m in a bid to balance the budget.

The across-the-board savings will keep this year's Council Tax rise down to 3.9% - meaning most households in the borough will have to find an extra 50p a week to pay their bills.

But opposition councillors are expected to call for the scrapping of members' expenses and want public relations and tourism budgets slashed.

Savings proposed by the council will mean some posts will remain unfilled when employees resign or retire and grants to the voluntary sector will be cut.

The £95m budget will leave Band D Council Tax payers with a bill of £1,043 - an increase of £39, before parish, police and fire precepts are added.

However, the majority of homes in the borough fall into the Band A category.

Council leader Tony McDermott said: 'We are pleased that we have not had to make any dramatic savings this year. Instead it is very much a case of belt tightening throughout the council.

'We will still have one of the lowest Council Taxes in the North West without having to make redundancies and vast savings to frontline services.

'Efficiency savings will include cutting back on our energy bills and perhaps not filling some posts as quickly as we normally would.

Last year's increase was 4.5% and the Halton Show was a casualty in a bid to save cash.

Each council department was ordered to tighten its belts to the tune of £255,000.

Cllr McDermott described last year's budget as 'very tough'.

This year cuts in the Children and Young People directorate amount to more than £536,000, including the loss of seven administrative posts.

Reductions in posts and cuts in grants to the voluntary sector will save £795,000.

Casualties include the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Relationship Centre for Domestic Violence Support which will both receive grant cuts.

Cllr McDermott warned next year's budget could see a return to savings.

He said: 'The situation will get tougher each year as the settlement from central government is reduced.

'We need to ensure frontline services are protected as much as possible and savings are made wherever possible.'