Meeting Somerset's growing policing demands is "like trying to cover a king-sized bed with a single duvet", according to its chief constable.
Avon and Somerset Constabulary set its annual budget in Taunton on Tuesday (February 3), which will see an additional £15 added to the annual council tax bill for an average (Band D) property in Somerset.
Chief constable Sarah Crew said her officers were solving more crimes than the previous year, and that this maximum rise was the only way to avoid further damaging cuts to neighbourhood policing.
Members of the Avon and Somerset police and crime panel welcomed the force's improved performance but cautioned that there would be a limit to how much additional council tax their constituents would be willing to pay.
In the last 12 months, the numbers of recorded neighbourhood crimes has dropped by five per cent, according to official police figures - despite the number of crimes being recorded rising overall.
The last year also saw a 14 per cent drop in recorded knife crime and a six per cent drop in recorded serious youth violence.
The amount of people in Somerset stating the police were doing "a good or excellent job" rose by 10.2 per cent in the last 12 months, making Avon and Somerset one of the best performing police forces in the UK.
The force has also seen a "significant" increase in people being charged for rape and serious sexual offences (known as RASSO in police statistics), and its 999 response times are "among the strongest nationally".
Ms Crew told the panel: "The demand facing the police remains consistent.
"Officers still spend more than 77,000 hours a year on constant supervisions (largely in our custody suites) and more than 62,000 hours in the last 12 months on mental health-related incidents.
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"Those duties are necessary, but they are very resource-intensive, and they limit our availability to be able to respond to demand in other areas.
"The pressures are real, and they are affect our ability to meet the public's expectations. Without the maximum precept, we will have to make further cuts in our capability.
"It’s like trying to cover a king-sized bed with a single duvet."
Councillor Martin Wale (Conservative, Chard North) said he needed further assurance that the force was doing everything it could to meet the public's expectations.
Mr Wale - a retired police officer - said: "The prevention of crime is covered, and there are hints about crime detection, but I find it very hard to determine your performance without the positive outcomes figures.
"That is what the public look at - they want to know whether you’re catching criminals and doing your job, frankly. It’s difficult to see from your report how this is going."
Ms Crew responded: "In the last 12 months, we have solved just under 2,000 more crimes than we did the year before. While we do have more demand and we do have inexperience, we are solving more crimes.
"What this is masked by is the number of crimes that we’re recording - since 2022 we’re recording 22 per cent more crime.
"The positive outcome rate is a ratio between the number of crimes and number of outcomes, both of which are increasing."
Labour police and crime commissioner Clare Moody said that the precept increase was essential to stabilise policing levels across Somerset - warning that the maximum possible increase would not result in an immediate increase in positive outcomes for the public.
She said: "This budget is about making sure that we can continue with the resources that we have got.
"This is not a budget about expansion, it’s about continuing to run as we are."
Chief financial officer Paul Butler added: "Next year we will have to have an additional 40 officers within neighbourhood policing.
"There is £1.1m of funding for that, but there is no clarity around the detail - we will have to put a proposal forward as to how we deliver that.
"This budget has balanced on the back of a significant savings programme, which has been going on for many years.
"This government has a genuinely ambitious agenda for policing, so we can expect more asks in the future and that savings programme will have to be called upon.
"There is hope that when police reform and force borders change, that there has to be a change in the funding formula. I think we all know that you can't keep loading our constituents with increasing levels of tax."
The panel unanimously agreed to approve the police force's annual budget (including the £15 increase) after around two hours' debate.
Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Heather Shearer (who chaired the panel) said that the rise was necessary in spite of the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Ms Shearer (Liberal Democrat, Mendip West) said: "We understand the arguments put forward by Ms Moody to take the maximum uplift, but that additional investment has to deliver real improvements in the service provided by the constabulary.
"All of our communities need to have confidence in the police, and this will only happen with demonstrable progress, especially in the areas of improvement highlighted by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service.
"No-one involved in public service wants to put up taxes paid by local people but in this case, we felt it was necessary.
"Once again this year, the panel was clear that while we knew the precept uplift was essential, the public really need to be assured that positive outcomes will improve across the whole force area, and Ms Moody's office and the constabulary are committed to addressing declining public confidence."
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