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?

Joy of austerity measures.
Cut funding to social services and benefits. Leads to struggling families imploding, leads to increase in children being taken into care. Saving £40 a week on a family can lead to thousands needing to be spent to ensure safety. Money saved by government is then drained from council.
Government deregulated NHS/school contracts, leading to private companies bidding low prices for NHS work, companies drain money from contract to top salaries, go bust and hand contract back - councils still have to provide services, but pay twice effectively.
Austerity measures are proven to increase costs after initial savings unless money is reinvested which of course it wasn't.
And then wages and pensions drain a lot of it.

snibble
When you say "cronies" do you mean "most of the people who live in london full stop"?
No, that is not how the revaluation will work.
And top end banding will only hit the rich.
If there is a national revaluation then every house will go into one of the new (ideally 26) bands.
Councils will work out their budget and divide it across their tax base.
If what was a band D in London is now a Band N, the council tax take will be unchanged, or maybe even reduced due to the higher gain from the band Z

Tollgate
they voted in someone who could help with the repairs to the Town Hall, he was an architect with no experience of local governance or community activities, but they wanted to repair the town hall on the cheap
I hope you reported that to the External Auditor as that is a direct breach of DPI rules

But I agree, the Poll Tax was a disaster wasn’t it, although I thought in principle quite fair at the time. There were 4 adults in my parents home all working. That said if I recall we were each charged about 300 quid a year. My current CT is about 1400 quid, but based on a valuation from 1991 that is about 1/7 the current value of my house.

No, I am not too young to remember the poll tax riots, but I am questioning the way the percentages increases are applied. I am involved in local community and politics, including supporting schools. I have always voted and got involved in local issues and been happy to do so. It is about the fact that a supposed value of a property today is not the same as having the disposable income to support a tax based on that premise. Sometimes where you are, not what you paid, has hugely changed the value of a property and I see many who are really struggling to pay council tax now, based on buying a house, in what is now an expensive area, some 20/30/40/even 50 year's ago. Was poll tax fair - no! Is the issue with funding of services - fair, no! I read the budgets, but my point is that the value of your home (yes, home not an investment) is not necessarily an indicator of your ability to pay a tax. Just my opinion.

But the revaluation will have little or no impact on your bill.
As the total "take" of the council tax will remain broadly similar.

And no, councils cannot unilaterally revalue - they have to use the figures used by the Valuation Office.

How can anyone know that people complaining on the net are all useless?

I never said they all were, but statistically, with only 20% turnout, and the majority of them for no change, it seems unlikely that ALL the posters on the net who moan actually do vote.

I literally lost out on becoming a County Councillor by 4 votes - and people I canvassed in the area spoke to me afterwards to apologise for not bothering to vote, saying that they wanted me as their Cllr.

My answer was simple - "if you don't vote, you don't get a say in who represents you".

Tollgate
Land and property taxes are some of the fairest because they are cheap to collect (houses do not move around)
Transparent (google street view)
Universal (every property on the map gets taxed)

If the UK moved to a Land tax (which is what the principle of top banding additions of Council Tax aims at)

Then Local Government funding would return to being progressive rather than regressive.
The Poll tax was deeply regressive because it took no account of ability to pay.
If you can afford to buy a home you are richer than the people who cannot afford that. Simple.

I must be thick, but if my CT was revalued (my question about why that vote didnt/couldn’t happen during Labour years ) and was in the Band it presumably ought to be why wouldn’t the total “take” go up? The council are getting tax on valuations that are 27 years old and paying bills at today’s prices.

I’m planning to spend this afternoon learning more about this btw Talk I’m getting a lot to think about.

Also, my question is based on my perspective as a home owner, I probably won’t be gunning for a re-val if I was a renter.

TSSDNCOP
Have a look at your council's website.
Look at the budget.
Look at the banding data for the tax base.

Currently its Bands A-H and they collect , say £10m of which you pay £1000 as a Band D

After revaluation it will be bands A-Z, they collect £10m of which you will still pay around £1000 as a band G because everybody will have gone up the bands but the amount of money to be collected will not have changed by much.

Thank you, I’ll do that. I’ve spent all week slightly amazed at 27 years of non-revaluation. I take your point about cronism, although you won’t believe the PD’s I do know are dyed in the wool Labour, but seriously was a valuation tabled by the laboyr govt or an alternative proposed?

TSS
Revaluation was tabled at least twice by NuLabour and once by John Major and once by Eric Pickles

Its a real political hot potato because to make it palatable to the masses it HAS to be progressive - which will piss off the lobbyists and the donors

Its also a massively expensive and time consuming job so will not happen this side of Brexit
BUT
Please read your Council's website
One of the few really cool things Eric Pickles did was the "Transparency Code" - councils have to publish all of their fiinancial and governance information on the web.
When you are informed, you will be able to make better decisions.

When you are informed, you will be able to make better decisions

This is really important, in my experience.

Between the parish by-election which I lost and the local elections the following year, I was involved in a campaign to encourage more candidates - particularly women - to stand for election. It was successful; there was a 50% increase in female candidates and an overall increase in candidates standing of 40%.

Unfortunately, it made little difference at County level, but there were some "new" Cllrs on many of the Parish Councils. Sadly, several of them have since resigned, saying they didn't realise what the role entailed.

What's even worse for democracy is that most have been replaced by co-opted Cllrs (chosen by the Council) because the local residents didn't know that they could insist on a by-election if there was a vacancy.

Everyone should learn about democracy, find out how you can influence local decision making. Posting on Social media may be easy and make you feel better but it doesn't change things.

Iwasacandidate
What's even worse for democracy is that most have been replaced by co-opted Cllrs (chosen by the Council)
That can be turned on its head though .....
Keep an eye on the minutes ..... if a vacancy comes up, or when the vacancy is advertised (as by law it has to be on the website)
Apply for the co option - they cannot stop you
encourage interested people to do the same.
The worm will turn, but apathy achieves nothing

So it's a hot potato irrespective of who's raising it. Interesting. I'm spending an interesting snow day looking at these things. I've often pondered how councillors become involved and what qualities/qualifications are needed.

Have a read through this
www.nalc.gov.uk/library/publications/801-good-councillors-guide/file - applies to Parish and Town Councils
and this
www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/11.43%20Councillors%27%20Guide%202017_v07a_STANDARD.pdf - applies to larger authorities

If you don't like it, then stop complaining and stand as a councillor. That is the most effective way to change things. Although I think you'll find its a darn sight harder than you think.

Regarding co-option, the only reason councils do this is because no-one has demanded a by-election. Any group of people can do this, and then have a candidate stand. Or yes, ask to be on the list of potential co-optees.

My council tax has gone up by £10 a month so I guess I'm lucky,. I wouldn't normally begrudge any sensible rise but having read an article yesterday about council members going to a summit meeting in....................................Cannes I did wonder WTF?!!!

I work in local government. I get really saddened at the view that some people seem to have of public sector workers.

We are not all lazy, incompetent and pension seeking. Before I joined my current organisation I worked for a large regional commercial law firm.

My current role in local government is far more challenging. I get abuse regularly from residents and people call me names and threaten me.

I’m paid far less than my old colleagues (literally half). The main benefit is that I will
Hopefully get a decent pension.

That said, I love my job and will continue to do the best I can under challenging circumstances.

Councils are really finding it difficult to balance the books.

All the people saying "stop complaining and stand for the council"

just mean

"stop complainig" ie "shut up" really dont' they.

It's getting very annoying.

Encouraging people to take RL action is great.
Telling them to shut the fuck about complaining about the (sometimes illegal) actions of the people who take their tax money and are supposed to spend it to benefit the community, not so much.

Snibble
Did you vote at the last council elections?
Will you vote at the next ones?

Of course I did I always vote.

What is the point of your question?

Will you continue listing more tricky levels of engagement until I say "no" and you say "ha gotcha you've got no right to complain"?

The amount of people who have TOLD people on the thread that they should shut up is mind boggling.

If they are trying to encourage RL action they are going a very funny way about it. I think they just want people to shut up.

Our council was run by Labour for 3 crazy years & it doubled under those spendthrifts & they drew down half the reserves!