NINETY-five days after the process officially started, five days after it was supposed to be set and just seven days before its legally-imposed deadline, Brighton and Hove City Council has set its budget for 2015/16.

The long, drawn-out debate ended with councillors voting 26 to 19 in favour of a compromise agreement, with a 1.99% council tax rise.

After Thursday’s stalemate six-hour meeting, councillors reconvened yesterday for just 30 minutes to vote through proposals.

Their decision means the children’s centres and mayoralty office are saved.

All 15 Conservative councillors and three of the six rebel Green councillors able to attend, Phelim MacCafferty, Ruth Buckley and Alex Philips, voted against the proposals, while fellow Greens, Leo Littman and Sven Rufus, abstained.

Conservative group leader Geoffrey Theobald said the compromise was a “bad deal” for the city, while former Green councillor Ben Duncan said it was a “grubby deal” between Greens and Labour which could harm his former party in the May elections.

A combination of Labour and Green councillors voted through the 1.99% council tax rise budget and removed the prospect of a historic intervention by Whitehall commissioners, who would have entered council offices and dictated multi-million pound cuts.

Through compromises during the past five days, the Green group was able to gain concessions on proposed cuts to the council’s sustainability, communications, One Planet Living and assistant chief executive offices, while negotiating the removal of Labour’s proposed freeze on trader and visitor parking permits for a fourth year running.

Speaking after yesterday’s meeting the council leader, Jason Kitcat, told The Argus he found the Conservatives’ continued resistance to a compromise over a 1.99% rise “unacceptable”.

He added: “It’s a result for the city but not the one I had hoped for.

“Our proposals would have saved more services, created more long-term impetus, put more in the tank but unfortunately we remain way behind where we want to be.

“Over time, pressure by the opposition for lower council tax has cost the council £10 million a year.”

Councillor Warren Morgan, Labour group leader, said he was “pleased for residents” that enough Green councillors had “seen sense” and voted with his party to set a budget.

He added: “I condemn the militant Greens and the Conservative group for pushing us to the brink of handing control of our local services to government-appointed commissioners, who would have inflicted cuts even deeper and faster than already imposed by this Conservative Government.”

Coun Theobald said: “It’s all very depressing for our residents but also very predictable.

“It’s a bad deal for residents, especially with car parking charges going up as well as council tax increases at seven times the rate of inflation.”

Coun Duncan said: “If we had not passed a budget today it could have put Brighton and Hove on the map of leading the fight against Government austerity.

“The majority of Green councillors have changed their minds for the sake of a few tens of thousands of pounds.”

Rebel Green councillors said that their decision to vote against their leader's wishes was not a sign of internal conflict but an indication that their party did things differently and were free to "anguish" over their voting.

Coun Phillips said: "I feel sorry for councillors from other parties who are whipped on how to vote which is dictated by a faceless person from their national office who doesn't even care about the city."

Coun Buckley added that now was the time for the council to make a stand because the council's funding would be decimated over the next five years.

UNISON branch secretary Alex Knutsen said he was pleased that the passing of the amendment budget meant that a number of jobs at risk last week had been saved but was disappointed that the budget would still lead to the loss of 300 council jobs.

He added: "I think people will really notice the difference over the next 12 months, some services are only surviving currently on the good will of council staff."