Worthing Borough Council is tabling cuts totalling almost £500,000 in a bid to keep taxes down.

A report drawn up by the council said it was faced with hard choices - high tax increases or painful cuts in services.

Taxpayers will be asked to make the choice as finance officials warned: "We are in a very difficult financial position."

The council has drawn up an action plan after the Government warned it could cap councils which raise local taxes too much.

It plans to give the public three options:

A 44p (17.9 per cent) increase to keep services as they are
A 25p (ten per cent) increase with cuts in services of £456,000
Less than 25p a week increase with cuts of more than £456,000.

The council said the calculations did not include the taxes levied by West Sussex County Council or Sussex Police Authority.

A borough council spokesman said: "For every £1 that people pay, just 14p comes to us. The county council gets 77p and the police 9p.

"The average council tax in Worthing is £17.84 a week, of which £2.48 a week is Worthing Borough Council's share.

"We need to spend £14.7 million next year to keep providing all our services. The Government presently provides 56 per cent of the funding and council taxpayers the other 44 per cent.

"The Government is only going to increase its funding for next year by 1.5 per cent, nowhere near enough to cover our increased costs, so the council taxpayer faces a much bigger increase to compensate.

"Maintaining services at the present standard will mean a 17.9 per cent increase, an extra 44p for the average council taxpayer. The alternative is to cut services.

The Government has threatened to cap excessive council tax increases, which would leave the council with no choice but to make cuts."