SOUTH Essex bill payers are facing higher council tax charges as local councils try to plug their multi-million pound funding gaps.

As of April 1, Basildon taxpayers saw their bill rise by 1.99 per cent - the maximum possible rise in their annual bill this year.

Residents living in a Band D property now have to pay £5.04 extra per year, meaning their bill stands at £1,607.76 once extras for the county council, fire service and police are added in.

It marks the end of five consecutive years of council tax freezes.

Castle Point Council’s share of council tax bills has gone up by 1.96 percent, to help make up for a £3million shortfall caused by Government austerity grant cuts.

It means households in Benfleet, Thundersley and Hadleigh now have an overall annual bill of about £1,588.

For Canvey residents, their overall bill will be slightly higher at £1,609 because of an additional charge for Canvey Town Council.

Southend residents in Band D homes, are now paying £47-a-year extra – a total of £1,425.60. The borough council says the increase will help to fund some £50million being ploughed into Southend over the coming years.

Leigh Residents pay £1,470.87 each year to include town council charges.

Essex County Council has also put up its rates by £43-a-year, with the authority losing £57million year-on-year.

Retired Alf Papworth, of Ashdown Crescent, in Hadleigh, believes the councils’ hands have been forced by the government and is frustrated that his bill has risen.

Mr Papworth, 82, said: “A lot of families will be worse off for this, and the government has done us no favours. I receive a private pension from Camden Council which – due to inflation remaining low – has not gone up.

“When you take this and consider council tax rises, it all adds up in the long-run and it won't change while this government is in power.”

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, has criticised local authorities for failing to “get their priorities right.”

He said: "Most families have faced a creeping Council Tax rise over the last 20 years so attempts to blame today's tax rise on recent central government spending reductions ring hollow in many cases.

“The sad truth remains that some local authorities have failed to find necessary savings and cut out waste, instead being too quick to plug any holes in their budgets through tax hikes. Families already struggling with sky-high bills will be hit hard again by today's significant tax hike. When - as our research shows - many councils have actually prioritised raising the rate of councillors' allowance over easing the tax burden on hard-pressed residents, taxpayers will have little sympathy for councils pleading poverty."