Taxpayers look likely to be asked to pay an extra £1 every month towards policing in their next council tax bill.

Two options are being considered by police and crime commissioner Angus Macpherson for the county force.

One is the £12 annual rise (5.8 per cent), the other is a, £8.25 increase (four per cent).

Mr Macpherson will present the options to councillors from Swindon and Wiltshire who sit on the police and crime panel at a meeting on Thursday but says he favours the bigger increase.

He said the general election in December means his office has not yet received any indication of what grants the force will get from Whitehall,.

Mr Macpherson said he was working on a scenario of receiving an increase on last year’s £58.5m grant of between nothing and three per cent

“The difference in funding is £1.757m," he said.

He added: “When I consider council tax increases, I am focused on protecting local policing and the long-term funding position.

"To not increase council tax at this time would have considerable impacts on the future ability to commission policing and crime services.”

He said: “Wiltshire receives central funding of £87.79 per head of population. This compares to a national average of £113.91 per head.

"Being the fourth lowest centrally-funded per head increases my reliance on council tax.”

The 5.8 per cent increase in a Band D precept would take the police's part of the council tax bill £218.27.

Mr Macpherson says that would still be lower that this financial year’s precept for the Dorset and Gloucestershire forces.

He added: “There has been a debate surrounding the funding formula due to our low funding it is reasonable to expect a change would benefit Wiltshire.”

The PCC added that the change was thought to be on its way two years ago but delayed and not now expected until 2021-22 at the earliest.

The lower increase would leave Mr Pritchard with just less than £1m to play with.

The panel’s meeting beings at 10am at the Corn Exchange in Devizes on Thursday.