Council tax rises get go-ahead
Discussion
BlackLabel said:
If that is supposed to be a link, it doesn't seem to work for me.Anyhow, I understand we are due to be hit with an increase in Council Tax (Scarborough area) and given the current very poor return on our savings I'm not at all happy about it.
As I see it the problem arises because:
1. Councils waste too much money through inefficiency in the activities that are legitimate.
2. Councils try to do too much, though I'm not sure how much of this is because Councillors want to make a name for themselves by offering additional support to residents; or because residents pester them to provide these addititional services. Either way this needs cutting back.
...and then there's the pension situation which, as I understand it, is a huge call on funds.
Ian Geary said:
And what options would you suggest to ensure authorities can keep delivering the services, which, last time I checked, are still very much in demand?
Govt. say that councils have had a real term increase in spending power, but that analysis includes adding in these projected increases in council tax charges, and the smoke and mirrors addition of public health grant, which just funded a whole new set of responsibilities.
Compared to rising demand for adult social care (ageing pop, more severe needs), children's social care (better survival rate for severely disabled children, legal decisions to fund LAC through university and tougher ofsted requirements) and homelessness (generation rent, poorly functioning private sector rental market) average funding is plummeting.
But no-one wants to talk about what councils should stop providing.
Ok, people can moan about pensions, but that's just part of agreed remuneration in a sector that has a longer term reward focus rather than a bonus culture.
So instead we end up with discussions about how much councils spend on biscuits.
The Dilnot review came up with cross party proposals on adult care, yet the government, yet again, just dodged a long term issue.
Ian
1. most (comparable) private sector companies don’t have a ‘bonus culture’. Govt. say that councils have had a real term increase in spending power, but that analysis includes adding in these projected increases in council tax charges, and the smoke and mirrors addition of public health grant, which just funded a whole new set of responsibilities.
Compared to rising demand for adult social care (ageing pop, more severe needs), children's social care (better survival rate for severely disabled children, legal decisions to fund LAC through university and tougher ofsted requirements) and homelessness (generation rent, poorly functioning private sector rental market) average funding is plummeting.
But no-one wants to talk about what councils should stop providing.
Ok, people can moan about pensions, but that's just part of agreed remuneration in a sector that has a longer term reward focus rather than a bonus culture.
So instead we end up with discussions about how much councils spend on biscuits.
The Dilnot review came up with cross party proposals on adult care, yet the government, yet again, just dodged a long term issue.
Ian
2. Surveys suggest that (for comparable jobs) pay in the public sector is broadly in line with the private sector. Hence the big justification for massive pension benefits no longer exists.
3. “Agreed remuneration” can (and should) change to reflect economic realities, just as it has done in the private sector.
Edited by sidicks on Thursday 8th February 08:59
They now also want an extra £40 a year to collect the garden waste bin (previously picked up with the recycling every other week). Given they turn the street lights off at midnight (with a subsequent spate of burglaries) and we have no local police station anymore not sure how they justify the increase and the additional charges?
Might have to write some pointless angry letters to the local rag (purely for entertainment value).
Might have to write some pointless angry letters to the local rag (purely for entertainment value).
Jinx said:
They now also want an extra £40 a year to collect the garden waste bin (previously picked up with the recycling every other week). Given they turn the street lights off at midnight (with a subsequent spate of burglaries) and we have no local police station anymore not sure how they justify the increase and the additional charges?
Might have to write some pointless angry letters to the local rag (purely for entertainment value).
This has been the case here for years when they bother to pick it up! The que outside the tip at a weekend is very impressive and the skips for garden waste are overflowing as a result. Might have to write some pointless angry letters to the local rag (purely for entertainment value).
If they can charge extra for something they will and yet they have £100mill sat in the bank unspent and are lending it to other worse off councils.
p1esk said:
BlackLabel said:
If that is supposed to be a link, it doesn't seem to work for me.Here's the short link for you
www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-42984368
dazwalsh said:
Im all for an increase in council tax if it goes to the services that need it, social care being a major one. Id go as far as 10% rise as being reasonable given the strains the council are under, as long as its not a year on year increase at that level.
Indeed. I’m sure for many people, it’s not the amount of Counvil Tax they pay that is the main problem, it’s where that spending is allocated.B'stard Child said:
p1esk said:
BlackLabel said:
If that is supposed to be a link, it doesn't seem to work for me.Here's the short link for you
www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-42984368
Mid Suffolk District council approves £2.6m investment in Stowmarket’s Regal Theatre and Cinema
“Oldham Council’s spending records for December 2017 show they spent another £683,209 on the old town hall cinema development some fifteen months after the development opened which takes the ever escalating cost to over £40 million (£40,123,813). When the plan was approved by Oldham Council in 2012 it was forecast to cost an acceptable £10 million, in 2017 construction costs have increased by just under £800,000.”
They seem to like the movies.....
“Oldham Council’s spending records for December 2017 show they spent another £683,209 on the old town hall cinema development some fifteen months after the development opened which takes the ever escalating cost to over £40 million (£40,123,813). When the plan was approved by Oldham Council in 2012 it was forecast to cost an acceptable £10 million, in 2017 construction costs have increased by just under £800,000.”
They seem to like the movies.....
oyster said:
It's amazing value for money in my opinion.
For £3k a year I get local roads maintained, local kids educated, local oldies looked after, my bins emptied, the streets kept clean and so on.
Compared to the amount of central government tax I get clobbered with, it's amazing value.
An odd and naive view. For £3k a year I get local roads maintained, local kids educated, local oldies looked after, my bins emptied, the streets kept clean and so on.
Compared to the amount of central government tax I get clobbered with, it's amazing value.
Over 60% of what local government spends comes from central government, the ‘government tax’ that you get clobbered with, in addition to your £3k.
That’s the cost of you getting “local roads maintained, local kids educated, local oldies looked after, my bins emptied, the streets kept clean and so on”.
Still think it’s good value?
crankedup said:
Westminster manage to hold down the Council tax at £645 household average. How the heck do they manage to do that?
Yes it’s good management apparently?
And yet the rest of England are about £1k a year higher.
By exporting as many poor people out of the borough as possible.Yes it’s good management apparently?
And yet the rest of England are about £1k a year higher.
By allowing richer people to move into the areas previously populated with the above.
I believe they have always been quite well treated by governments.
Still it would be interesting to move the council team to say, Swindon and see how they get on.
sugerbear said:
crankedup said:
Westminster manage to hold down the Council tax at £645 household average. How the heck do they manage to do that?
Yes it’s good management apparently?
And yet the rest of England are about £1k a year higher.
By exporting as many poor people out of the borough as possible.Yes it’s good management apparently?
And yet the rest of England are about £1k a year higher.
By allowing richer people to move into the areas previously populated with the above.
I believe they have always been quite well treated by governments.
Still it would be interesting to move the council team to say, Swindon and see how they get on.
All he financial pressure on local Councils comes from central Government cutting the subsidies year after year. Local tax payers are left to pick up the shortfall. That’s fine imo for luxuries such as beautiful public parks, pavements and roads in good fettle, weekly sweep of the road gutters. However, it’s now down to essential services like, food inspectors, hygiene and public toilets and so on, this should be paid from the central Government taxes imo.
Still the Country is skint so I expect worse is to come yet.
markcoznottz said:
Well you can definitely see what's coming. Road pricing, monthly bin collections, charging for all council services, seen as not core services. Maybe charging for gp appointments, but that's a hot potato. It still won't be enough.
Bin collection is the core council service - the only one I notice anyway 
Negative Creep said:
woowahwoo said:
Negative Creep said:
Ah yes, back when they had a 50% infant mortality rate, no workers rights or job security, children working in factories or openly prostituting themselves in the streets, epidemic crime rates, being jailed for minor thefts or being a homosexual, mentally ill people throw in asylums and left to die, no free healthcare.....truly whimsical days of yore.
Yes, just ignore they built the majority of the housing stock we live in to this day, established most of the infrastructure and institutions which lead directly to the improvements in knowledge, public health, and prosperity that we all enjoy now. Instead, just view it crudely by the accrued knowledge of the present time, the standards of today and the worst problems of its time, as though all of the Victorian era was an exactly like the worst bits of Dickens' novels.Jinx said:
markcoznottz said:
Well you can definitely see what's coming. Road pricing, monthly bin collections, charging for all council services, seen as not core services. Maybe charging for gp appointments, but that's a hot potato. It still won't be enough.
Bin collection is the core council service - the only one I notice anyway Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff