Huge savings have to be made by Bradford Council to prevent Council Tax payers footing the bill to get it back into the black.

Finance director Steve Morris delivered the stark message at a meeting of the authority's executive committee yesterday.

Mr Morris's report showed four areas where spending was predicted to exceed budget - social services, education and schools, environmental protection and waste management and customer services.

Social services, at £4.43m in the red, and education, with a £1.03m overspend, were the worst affected departments.

Mr Morris told the meeting that the total overspend could reduce the Council's reserve funds to £1.8m - £3.4m below the minimum recommended level.

He said: "The key message is the extent to which the authority is not in a position to finance the level of overspending it is currently at, without that having an impact on its general balance and, therefore, on next year's budget."

Mr Morris said if the overspending continued until the end of the financial year he would recommend a 3.5 per cent rise in rate funds to restore the balance. That would see the average home in C band paying an extra £27.40 a year in Council Tax.

Deputy Council leader Councillor Richard Wightman (Con, Rombalds) told the meeting that flexible and far-reaching strategies for tackling the situation would be presented by the end of the month.

But Labour leader Councillor Ian Greenwood (Little Horton) was not re-assured - and warned there would be substantial cuts to services. He said: "This is the most serious financial monitor that I've seen in this Council's history. This budget has overspent year on year but this is different in scale - it's getting entirely out of hand and we're talking about every citizen having to pay more.

"Anybody that thinks we'll be able to agree on a strategy by the end of October to make serious savings without hurting anyone is kidding themselves."

Councillor Kris Hopkins (Con, Worth Valley), executive member for health and housing, said: "Let's not start scaring people - this situation needs to be addressed and will be addressed, but let's wait before we use the word 'cuts'."

The committee backed recommendations for each department director to take action. An action plan on how to achieve savings was also agreed to be presented to members by October 30.