Council tax payers will be digging deeper to pay for Sussex Police next year.

The county's police authority is looking at four options, one calling for a tax rise of almost 20 per cent.

That would add another £11 to Band D homeowners, currently paying almost £60 per month.

The lowest option is a rise of 4.6 per cent.

But a report before the authority on Thursday warns this would mean the force's income would fall short of covering existing commitments and inflation.

A rise of 8.5 per cent is needed just to keep pace with costs.

The Government is providing an extra 2.8 per cent funding for forces but this will not cover inflationary pressures, a three per cent police pay increase and extra pension payments.

Authority chairman David Rogers said Home Secretary David Blunkett was calling for improvements in the police service but the Government did not appear to be willing to pay for them.

A second report to the authority told how almost £1 million was "lost" from the force's £180 million budget last year.

An error in the system resulted in interest received being overstated by £500,000.

Another £438,000 listed as income had already been received.

Mr Rogers said the errors happened when responsibility for accounts was being switched from West Sussex County Council to force staff.

Safeguards had been introduced to ensure the errors were not repeated.

The number of police officers in Sussex has fallen.

The force was one of only eight in the country which failed to see an increase in the number of bobbies between March and September.

The total number of officers now stands at 2,837. A reduction of 19 during the last six months represents the third largest fall in the country.

But Richard Horner, head of resourcing for Sussex Police, said the Home office figures were "distorted" and out of date.

He said on October 1 this year, the day after Sussex Police sent the figures to the Home Office, the force recruited an extra 32 officers.

He said this meant the number of police had actually increased by 13, rather than fallen by 19.

He said the figures did not include officers who were on the force's books but away on duty in countries such as Bosnia, on maternity leave or taking "career breaks".

He expects the force to have 3,000 officers on its books by the end of March.

But East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton said the figures, published today, were alarming.

He has discovered that - while Sussex is successfully recruiting new police officers - it cannot keep up with the number leaving the force.

He said: "We remain one of the worst forces in the country in terms of officers per head of population and have large numbers of officers leaving the force.

"I will be taking this up with the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, as early as possible in the New Year."

Hove MP Ivor Caplin pointed out that the figures for the past 12 months actually showed an increase in police numbers of 25.

But he admitted the figures for the past six months were worrying. He said the high cost of living in Sussex was partly to blame.

Lewes MP Norman Baker, a Liberal Democrat spokesman on Home Affairs, said: "These figures are very disappointing."