RESIDENTS in Gloucestershire are being given the chance to choose their council tax rise for next year.

In an unprecedented move, Gloucestershire County Council will be offering residents three options to choose from.

The county council faces budget problems following the summer floods, which saw costs mount to £35 million.

All three options involve a council tax increase but only two would create additional funding to spend on future flood prevention.

Cllr Julie Girling, cabinet member for environment and flood recovery, said: "Feedback from residents tells us that the fear of floods is greater than ever and they want real investment into flood prevention and this includes a programme of drain clearance.

"As the county council for Gloucestershire, we take our leadership role very seriously and are working hard to get more money from the government to help us recover and protect ourselves for the future.

"We will get some of the money back for what we spent during the emergency, but the Audit Commission agrees that councils need even more support from the Government in emergencies.

"With no money available for protection, we now have to ask council taxpayers to help fund additional investment in flood prevention."

The options open to consultation are; * Option 1, is for a base budget of £333.5 million and a council tax increase of 3.8 per cent. This option contains no extra money to deal with flood prevention or drainage works.

* Option 2, is for a budget of £335.8 million and a council tax increase of 3.8 per cent plus an additional 1.1 percent to create a fighting-fund of £2.3 million to investigate and begin to tackle flood prevention and drainage works.

* Option 3, is for a budget of £340.2 million and a council tax increase of 6.9 per cent which would increase the fighting fund to £4.5 million and provide capital investment of £25 million to fund major investment in flood prevention and drainage works.

The consultation announcement came as Gloucestershire received £1.1 million from the Government through the Bellwin insurance scheme to help cover the cost of the summer floods.

A further payment of £400,000 is expected later next year.

The money will help reimburse some of the money the county council has already had to pay but it is not enough to cover any of the highway and drainage issues facing the county.

The council tax consultation began on December 18 and ends on January 16.

The budget will be finalised by cabinet on February 8, 2008 and approved by full council on February 20, 2008.

To take part on the consultation go to www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/consultation.