Wiltshire County Council's Conservative administration could be called in by the Government to have its budget capped if it does not find a way to cut back on spending.

Provisional figures show a budget rise from £363 million this financial year to £377 million in 2004/05.

It would work out at an increase of 6.9 per cent on the county's portion of the council tax and see bills for Band D households rise from £805 to £864, without taking into account any money for the police or fire authorities, and district, town or parish councils.

This year the county was forced to put up its portion of the council tax by 10.8 per cent and council leader Jane Scott said they had worked hard to reduce costs and maintain the level of services in the 2004/05 budget.

She hoped the predicted 6.9 per cent rise in its portion of the council tax might yet be further reduced through efficiency savings.

"At over six per cent we could get called in but my opinion is that Wiltshire had one of the lowest increases last year and we shall keep it as low as we can this year," she said.

But the Liberal Democrat opposition accused the Tories of proposing cuts to services as well as the tax increase.

"Proposals include scrapping the popular Parish Lengthsman scheme, scrapping the Hopper bus which many people use to get to the hospital in Bath, cutting bus subsidies which will result in the loss of evening and Sunday services, and reducing the Wigglybus," said Liberal Democrat leader Coun Trevor Carbin.

"On the roads maintenance side the budget proposes reductions in the frequency of gully emptying and a cut of £114,000 in the amount spent on repairing potholes.

"Despite all these and more, the council tax increase will still be double the rate of inflation. Seven per cent represents £70 or £100 on most people's bills, a huge amount, especially for those on low incomes such as many pensioners."

But Coun Scott denied these cuts were destined to take place saying they were part of a long list of budget variations, with savings that would only be made if they were forced to make cut-backs on the current provisional budget figures.

"I come from a rural area and I know how popular these things are," she said.

The budget figures are still subject to change and the county council is waiting confirmation later this month from the Government of how much money it will receive.

If early indications are correct, Wiltshire says it will receive £5.5 million less than it should have which works out at about three per cent on the council tax.

Coun Scott said the county council has made bids for nearly £1 million in Government grants for waste recycling projects and passenger responsive transport, like the Wigglybus.

The budget does include provision for borrowing £3 million to deal with potholes on Wiltshire's roads, amounting to the treatment of two million square metres of road surface.

The council is also planning to allocate up to £4.4 million for magistrates courts improvements.

Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats will be presenting an alternative budget to the council on February 10.

Coun Carbin said the party would preserve front-line services but make savings such as cutting the council's media department from seven or eight members of staff to two or three.