To think council tax rises are a joke

[lljr82]

Another huge inflation busting rise in council tax, but they've closed the library, not fixed loads of potholes, reduced rubbish collecting, social care is apparently poorly funded, the school has to beg for money at the start of each term, closed the fire station, closed a hospital nearby, reduced police numbers and won't even visit when my car was broken into even though there should be CCTV footage of it.

It just seems like a joke. Where is the money going?

are you even reading other peoples posts OP?

you seem to be trying to direct the debate towards perceived corruption and 'fat cat' pensions (I bloody wish) rather than the 50% cut in funding to councils like mine since 2010

I work in a LA and trust me - everything is cut to the bone - there is now money for niceties anymore

Would all those posters complaining about rises in council tax be happy to have council spending cut? Of course it's easy to say 'yes, let's cut out all the inefficiencies and waste' but realistically cuts will impact public services that are relied upon often by the most vulnerable in our society. Most councils would run at a huge deficit if they tried to maintain these services and never raise council tax. Money from national government to councils has been cut but this money was also raised from taxation (although admittedly a different form).

I guess my argument is that it is annoying to pay more tax but public services cost money and ultimately we have to make the decision to either pay less taxes or cut public spending. Sounds like you aren't ecstatic with the current state of public services so not sure you would support these getting worse.

www.which.co.uk/news/2017/11/where-does-your-council-tax-money-go/

It was £114, it’s just gone up to £151. Same band.

I know central government funding has been cut, but if they appeared to be addressing some of the obvious wastage and still needed the money I would be understanding but my council seem hugely inefficient of things they have the power to improve.

So some reports say half goes towards pensions and others say half goes towards caring for adults and children

what is the 'obvious wastage' ? you need to expand on that a bit - maybe your council is different from the one I work for, or the one I pay CT to?

Our council has the most beautiful massive building, i am surprised it hasnt been sold off

OP, you're either staggeringly ignorant or blatantly goady. My money's on the latter, tbh.

Sorry but I just don't believe a rise of nearly 40%. There's a cap of about 6% on the amount they've allowed to increase council tax. If they want to levy more than that they have to hold a referendum.

lljr82 do you really think that everyone working within the council is so incompetent that they are just completely oblivious to easy changes they could make that would reduce wastage? If so, why don't you drop them an email about your ideas for improvement and see how they respond?

Also there is an increasing number of children in care- long term as well, which costs vast amounts of money.

People living longer means higher care home expenses.

Increase in wages means higher salary costs

Funding is being cut so they can’t do everything.

Generally I am happy with my council and am not bothered about our rise even though it's quite steep as we have a bigger house. I would feel cross if I felt that what was being provided for the money wasn't visible anywhere.

In respect of things that have been cut - I am also a trustee of a charity for deprived children in London that used to get 80% of its funding from the council - it now gets £0.00 and we have to raise it all from other sources.

Ours gave themselves payrises and upped our bills. Hardly makes you feel it’s going where needed

OP maybe you should get involved if you think you can do better. Stand for election, attend council meetings, respond to consultations.

Also so what if councils spend a lot on pensions they've committed to? The alternative is screwing over people who have planned for their retirement based on their employment contract at the time.

My organisation employs transferred out council staff and we are very happy to offer them the same good pension the council offered them even though it's the biggest liability on our books because they're not making wads of cash now, but the deal is meant to be instead they get job security (not what it used to be with constant cuts) and a good pension and a decent employer. We do our best on the last two.

Can you give some examples of 'obvious wastage'?

Our Council has wasted millions on consultants to tell them how to do the b........g obvious. They were obsessed with outsourcing to the private sector, which has not worked, so now many services have had to be brought back in-house. Google Northampton CC to see how well it has worked there!! Decent services, for example day services for disabled people, has been completely shut down. They do however pay a vast amount to some snakeoil salesmen who pretend to operate volunteer run services. Many great, capable staff have got out as soon as they could - the council is an bullying, inefficient and shambolic disaster area.

retired cubs and scouts are definitely not funded by the Council. Leaders are voluntary - no payment at all.
All funds are raised by members subscriptions and fundraisers carried out by the units.

Mine has gone up by over 10% every month, it's taking the piss.

"It was £114, it’s just gone up to £151. Same band"

That can't be right, are you sure?

Apologies for a mirror link, but here's a calculator so anyone who doesn't know what their rise will be can find out:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/council-tax-rise-april-2018-11987939.amp

Sorry, not calling you a liar, I just thought there was a cap on council tax increases

That’s the bill that we got through the door yesterday! Although im starting to doubt that it’s right now...it works out at an extra £450 a year!!

My councils extensive use of consultants and contractors has been revealed in freedom of information requests.

Also seems hugely wasteful for each district to have a building doing the same thing as another not far away. They built a huge new district council office here, and due to restructuring there is apparently lots of empty space. I know from people that have contracts with the council about how much they waste on unnecessary stuff but don't want to out myself.

YABVU. Jokes are funny.

Our council has been elected again and again based on their policy of not increasing the tax for some years and claiming not to be cutting services. They have, massively, but up until fairly recently it was only the poor and vulnerable who were affected and as the borough is fairly affluent that didn't affect their image much. Now they have nothing left to cut but libraries, waste collection and other services that directly affect the majority of people and are also ramping up the council tax again.

Nonetheless, I fully expect them to get re-elected this May. And it is perhaps needless to state that they are Conservative.