The Labour administration says it is prudent to keep council tax low

SNP group leader Robert Higgins said plans by the Labour administration to raise council tax in line with inflation would eat into reserves.

He claimed that could cause problems if the authority faced a major emergency.

Council convener Tommy Sloan said more modest reserves were sufficient and keeping any increase at a low level would benefit tax payers.

Mr Higgins said he believed balances should be kept at about 2% of the overall budget - about �6m.

Nobody has been criticised more than Dumfries and Galloway in the past for carrying massive balances Convener Tommy Sloan

"What if you got another foot and mouth or something like that?" he said.

"If we hadn't had balances then we could never have dealt with that at the time.

"That is why balances are there."

Mr Higgins said that a figure of �6m was reasonable for a business the size of the council.

"That is not a lot of money to keep in your back pocket for an emergency," he added.

Acceptable balances

However, Mr Sloan said he believed somewhere between �2m and �4m was a more "acceptable" level of balances.

"You are far better having this money in the pockets of the people of Dumfries and Galloway rather than the banks of the council," he said.

"I think it is more prudent to keep the council tax down.

"Nobody has been criticised more than Dumfries and Galloway in the past for carrying massive balances."