YOUR views are being sought on a proposal to raise the amount you contribute towards the cost of policing by up to £10 a year.

Tony Lloyd, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Greater Manchester, is consulting on his plan to increase the amount he charges households through their council tax bills by 3.2 per cent for the forthcoming 2016/17 financial year.

He wants to hear what Boltonians think of the move which for the average Band D property would equate to an extra £5 - or less than 10p a week.

Such a sum would push the police portion of the local rates for Band D homes and flats from the £152.30 to £157.30.

This trickles down to pay for pan-Greater Manchester policing, such as counter-terrorism and major investigations as well as divisional officers such as Bolton's two integrated neighbourhood policing teams.

Mr Lloyd said the additional income generated by his move would pay for the equivalent of 70 new police officers.

He said: "Government cuts to police funding have hit Greater Manchester Police particularly hard, with the service losing £180m since 2010.

"Consequently, there are now are 2,000 fewer police officers on our streets.

"In Greater Manchester, about 80 per cent of the police budget comes from the Government and the rest is from the police element of your council tax.

"As Greater Manchester’s Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner, I am responsible for setting the amount that households pay for policing through their council tax."

In November Chancellor George Osborne announced the Government would not be seeing through a feared reduction in the size of the grant to the nation's police forces.

But Mr Osborne's balancing of the books in order to protect police spending in real terms assumed PCCs like Mr Lloyd would plug a financial gap by raising their slice of council tax.

Mr Lloyd said: "The Government has finally listened to me and many others who have said that cuts to policing are unsustainable.

"They have agreed not to cut the policing budget this year, although we still need to find additional savings of £70m over the next three years.

"However, their calculations make the assumption that I will raise the police element of your council tax by £5 in the coming year.

"That’s for the average Band D property.

"In order to avoid further damaging cuts to policing, this modest rise in council tax is the only realistic option the Government has given us."

Alongside the PCC precept, the two other charges added to it to make a complete council tax are made up by the precept by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and, by far the largest portion, the council tax set by Bolton Council.

The council will not reveal whether it is proposing to freeze or increase council tax until February's draft budget meetings but there has been speculation it could well rise.

GMFRS is seeking political support to formally ask taxpayers in the conurbation to pay an extra £4.99 a year for an average Band D property.

The 3.2 per cent increase proposed by Mr Lloyd would mean:

Band A properties increase by £3.34 from £101.53 to £104.87

Band B properties increase by £3.88 from £118.46 to £122.34

Band C properties increase by £4.44 from £135.38 to £139.82

Band D properties increase by £5 from £152.30 to £157.30

Band E properties increase by £6.12 from £186.14 to £192.26

Band F properties increase by £7.22 from £219.99 to £227.21

Band G properties increase by £8.34 from £253.83 to £262.17

Band H properties increase by £10 from £304.60 to £314.60

Despite being a large metropolitan area that shares similar problems to London, GMP does not receive an additional financial injection that the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police receive to specifically reflect the extra burden of keeping the capital safe.

The Home Office is currently consulting on how it should alter the existing arrangements for funding the police.

Mr Lloyd argues the formula used to calculate the grant each force receives should be revised so he and the GMP get a more equal share.

Between 2010/11 and 2015/16 GMP lost 26 per cent of its Government funding in real terms.

Therefore one of the only sources of income it can control is what is collected through council tax.

Mr Lloyd said: "No one wants to have to pay more, but I believe if we share this burden between us – just an extra 10p per week – we can all contribute towards keeping our neighbourhoods safer.

"I would stress that despite this increase, the police element of your council tax bill is still amongst the lowest in the country."

The Police and Crime Panel will agree or reject Mr Lloyd's proposal at its February meeting - although in a democratic quirk if it disagrees it may only veto Mr Lloyd's plans the once.

Interestingly, last year PCCs were limited to council tax precept increases of just 2 per cent and if they wished to levy a large figure their plans would have had to be accepted in a local referendum costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Take part in the police precept consultation at www.gmpcc.org.uk/counciltax