Job losses at Somerset County Council will total 1,500 in a bid to plug a £75 million deficit.

Council leader Ken Maddock described the national picture as "very bleak" and said Government cuts would have a "significant impact" on every person living in the county.

Somerset is one of the first county councils in the country to pin-point exactly how it intends to deal with the new austere political landscape.

The cuts mean 1,500 jobs face the axe, the vast majority of planned building projects will be stopped, two thirds of the 60 county-owned farms are likely to be sold, Bruton library is to close temporarily later this month and six others face a cut in hours.

However, unions have criticised the authority for exacerbating the dire financial situation by refusing to increase council tax next year.

Mr Maddock admitted that some cuts could lead to bigger bills later.

He said: "The times are wholly exceptional.

"The national picture is very bleak. We know, like every other council in the country, that we all face huge cuts in our funding from the government.

"In Somerset the situation is even more serious.

"We have a debt level in this county council of more than £350 million, with projections that it will reach £400 million before it can come down. Servicing that debt is our second biggest bill, not financing roads, not looking after vulnerable people, not improving schools, but debt.

"We are going to have to stop some of our services and have to be a smaller and better-run authority."

He said 1,000 members of staff had already volunteered for redundancy but compulsory losses would be inevitable.

"I don't want to lose sight of the fact that there are a lot of good people in this council, who do a lot of good work," he said.

Among the most controversial of the council's recent cost-cutting plans has been the proposed sell-off of its farms estate. It still plans to dispose of around two-third of the 62 holdings but insists most will remain as farms – some tenants have expressed interest in buying all of part of the farms they rent and negotiations are also underway with potential new landlords such as the Crown Estate.

Council officials have conceded there is room to improve the management of the 20 or so farms which will remain in its ownership after critics pointed out Somerset's high administration costs.

The council claims the farms made a paper loss of £76,000 last year but critics say that was only because capital spending was charged out in one year rather than being spread over several. The year before they yielded an income of £291,000.

Councillors maintain the estate only returns an income of between two and three per cent, but farmers say if capital receipts are taken into account it is nearer eight per cent.

National Farmers Union regional spokesman Ian Johnson said the authority had clearly been forced to rethink its original plan for a total sell-off in the light of the protest campaign.

"I suppose under the circumstances it is the best of a bad job," he said.

Mr Maddock also announced intentions for a zero increase in council tax for the second successive year. "It is important that the council doesn't increase the financial burden on its residents," he said.