Shropshire fire service bosses have agreed their budget for this year after a political row over 57 pence.

Members of Shropshire and Wrekin Fire Authority decided by just one vote yesterday to back a 3.9 per cent rise.

This will mean a demand for £75.45 from householders in average band D properties.

But Tory group leader Andrew Eade led a call for a rise of just 3.1 per cent, giving a £74.88 levy – a 57p difference.

Currently the band D payment for fire and rescue services is £72.62. The authority will be spending nearly £19 million over the next 12 months, with the biggest expenditure being pay.

The most contentious difference in the budget proposals was the £30,000 cost of employing a data quality officer, which the Conservative group opposed.

Councillor Eade said: “Why should we expect the people of Shropshire to pay for an officer who isn’t providing a frontline service?”

He said that by making such an appointment the authority would just be “jumping through the hoops” of a Government policy.

Councillor Eade said that a 3.1 per cent increase was “prudent and sensible”.

But Labour’s Phil Box moved the original budget strategy plan of a 3.9 per cent rise and described the Tory move as a “pitiful attempt at political opportunism”.

He said the authority had been warned by the watchdog Audit Commission that it needed to appoint an officer responsible for data.

Lib Dem chairman Nigel Hartin said that in the budget public consultation exercise people had said they would be happy with a four per cent tax increase.

Treasurer Keith Dixon said the average authority precept for this year appeared to be 4.5 per cent.

* Shropshire fire service’s smoke alarm programme has again proved to be “invaluable”, authority members were told.

Chief fire officer Alan Taylor reported that last December one of Ludlow’s most historic houses, dating from 1550, was saved by a newly installed alarm.

“Within 10 minutes of the alarm activating, fire appliances were on the scene,” said Mr Taylor.

During 2005/06 firefighters made 2,500 home safety visits and fitted the same number of detectors.

But between April and December 2006, 18,215 visits were made and 7,262 alarms were installed, Mr Taylor said.

By Dave Morris