Surrey County Council is planning to raise its council tax - an increase just below the figure which would have triggered a public vote.
Leader David Hodge said an "unprecedented demand" on services and a cut in government funding has led the authority to propose a 1.99 per cent increase in council tax.
The cabinet will meet to make a formal recommendation on Tuesday (Feb 3) and a final decision will be taken at a full council meeting the following week.
Mr Hodge said: "With unprecedented demand for services we are proposing a 1.99% increase, which is the bare minimum we need given that our government grant has gone down £24 million this year.
"Anything more would mean wasting as much as £2m on a referendum.
"It should be remembered that we've saved £260m in the last four years – equivalent to around a quarter of our budget – despite the huge increase in demand for school places and adult social care, with the latter set to soak up all those savings by next year."
Increased cost of services include:
- Growing demand for social care support which will cost £18m extra next year alone to meet the needs of around 700 more vulnerable adults
- New care responsibilities will cost up to £150m without increased funding
- Surrey needs 13,000 additional school places in the next five years
The council plans to save around £330m more by 2019.
