DERBYSHIRE County Council is to freeze council tax for a third consecutive year.
Bosses at the Tory-run authority confirmed the decision only hours after the Government announced it was cutting the amount of money it gives to councils to fund services.
But leaders at the Labour-run Derby City Council said they would go ahead with plans to increase council tax by almost 2%.
Councillor Andrew Lewer, leader of the county council, said his own party's decision to further cut local government funding was "tough" on his administration – but that he would not pass on the buck to taxpayers.
Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said most councils faced having their spending power reduced by 1.7% for 2013-14, but conceded for a minority the drop would be as high as 8.8%.
Last night, Mr Lewer said it was not clear how the Government's plans would affect spending at the county council.
He said: "This is another tough settlement but we are living in tough times.
"Until we have studied the detail we cannot say how it affects our spending plans for 2013-14. However, I can confirm that we are planning to freeze council tax for the third year running.
"We are not prepared to ask local people to dig deeper and pay more in council tax.
"Instead, we will make their money go further by continuing to find cheaper and better ways of delivering our services.
"Yes, it will mean tough decisions and changes to some services. But we are committed to cutting out waste and providing the best possible value for money for our council taxpayers."
Last night, city councillor Sarah Russell, cabinet member in charge of finances, said she did not yet know details of the funding settlement her authority would be getting from Government.
She said: "I'm not expecting it to be good news but we won't know until tomorrow and then we'll have to go through the detail to see how that affects things."
Leaders at other councils in Derbyshire also said it was too early for them to comment on Mr Pickles' announcement.
Despite announcing a cut to Local Government budgets, Mr Pickles called on authorities to freeze council tax, saying they had a "moral duty" to do so.
He said the Government was publishing a document called "50 Ways to Save" for administrations considering putting up council tax.
Labour's Shadow Communities Secretary, Hilary Benn, insisted Mr Pickles was "living in a world of his own".
"He simply does not understand the impact that his decisions on funding are having on the services and local people who use and rely upon them," Mr Benn said.
