Surprised (unsurprised) this doesn't make the headlines. Easier to blame it on others!
How much has your council tax gone up this year?
- Thread starter Nitefly
- Start date
Surprised (unsurprised) this doesn't make the headlines. Easier to blame it on others!
Soldato
Amen, be interesting of Labour get in how much they reverse this trend and increase central funding.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
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- 38,367
Can someone explain this to me? Who is responsible for these increases - is it down to whichever party is running their constituency, or is it just down to what budget the conservatives give to which area?
I’ve only become a homeowner since about 8 months ago - so I’m a newbieI announced to my office that my council tax has gone up 6% and they all laughed at me and basically said “yeah get used to that!”
I think mine went up something crazy last year like 10-13% this year it's 3%.
they go up because well inflation. councils need cash to operate and the way they work is any money allocated to them they will spend every penny because a new year means a new budget. if they don't spend the money it gets taken away and they never see it again. so it's in their best interest to spend it all whilst they have it.
for example right now the police are all being offered overtime because there is money left in their budgets before the year end. so they are now being offered double pay to do the same job but more hours.
it's essentially all just a game and public money gets wasted. instead of employing 20 more officers they will just give all the money to current officers to blow on 1 shift each at double time. whereas 20 new officers could have been given a job with the same cash and do more work over the course of a year but greed > sense.
Whilst I agree there is greed and wastage. I think your point about extra officers doesn't really fit becuase the cost of hiring 20 extra officers and then continuing to pay them and their cost tot the force would end up to be more, so it's not really comparable to paying someone OT.
I do agree that we need more police rather than overworking via OT.
Caporegime
Maybe the government is to blame somewhat but councils make mistakes on such silly levels. Our towns main park houses an Avery which always used to be shut at night and monitored. Cut backs meant the gates are left open 24/7 to the park and now the Avery was smashed to bits and birds went missing plus all the other vandalism it would have been cheaper to have kept the grounds keepers in the first place.
Soldato
You're blaming the effect for being the cause. Reduced funding means a cut back but the cut back is the reason the problem is bad??
Look at it this way, if they didn't have their funding cut would they cut back the service? You can never be 100% sure but the likelihood is the service would have remained and the vandalism (and resulting repair bill) would never have happened. Ergo, the funding cuts cause the issue. It's simple and straightforward.
Don't get me wrong councils can be wasteful, ant public or private buddy who needs to make funding calls can be and could they have reduced council budgets? Maybe they could have but as an example my local councils allocation has been reduced by around 65% in 5 years. Yes they've been given business rates partially (making the reduction more around 45%) but there aren't many, of any, organisations can lose around half their funding and be effective. This is Tory political ideology (government is bad, market is good) and they have used the need to save as a veneer to dismantle the supports structures in society for those who aren't wealthy in an attempt to emulate America.
Soldato
Birmingham Council, 6.1%, so exactly £6/month.
Adjusted to take into account the reduction in services, probably more like 20-30%
Adjusted to take into account the reduction in services, probably more like 20-30%
Soldato
It's ok, I'm sure Capita can supply a man in van to do all the parks in a borough for twice the price of a council team
Soldato
Mines gone up 6%, this is why I don't like them using percentages when it comes to raising council tax etc. It widens the gap between each band every time which is unfair. The same thing applies to wages so the higher earners get a bigger rise than those lower down the scale
Soldato
It's ok, I'm sure Capita can supply a man in van to do all the parks in a borough for twice the price of a council team
And then go busy at the end and no one does it
Ours has gone up about £80, It’s largely off set by the increase in PA. So where they give with one hand, they take with another.
My main gripe is that council tax is regressive and harder on those with less money compared to income tax. Higher earners benefit more from the income tax changes and wouldn’t really notice a relatively large council tax increase within their overall lifestyle because it doesn’t really scale with earnings.
My main gripe is that council tax is regressive and harder on those with less money compared to income tax. Higher earners benefit more from the income tax changes and wouldn’t really notice a relatively large council tax increase within their overall lifestyle because it doesn’t really scale with earnings.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
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in fact our has went up a lot more than 3% we pay our water and waste charges in with our council tax and those charges have increased too.
i think it's 4.6% total increase. last year was double digits % increase. I'm band E. i use a lot less council services than say the guy across the road from me who has 10 vehicles parked all over the street. yet he's in the same band as me. he also washes them himself so you can imagine how much water he uses (no meters in scotland for residential homes).
i think it's 4.6% total increase. last year was double digits % increase. I'm band E. i use a lot less council services than say the guy across the road from me who has 10 vehicles parked all over the street. yet he's in the same band as me. he also washes them himself so you can imagine how much water he uses (no meters in scotland for residential homes).
Mine has gone up from £108 - £121 a month on a 10 month cycle.
So £130 for the year.
Thankfully I still get my single persons discount or it would have been £165 a month.
I get my bins emptied every 3rd week depending on colour, I get street lighting and I need to fight with the street cleansing department to send a road sweeper round the cul-de-sac twice a year.
Oh, I forgot, they cut the grass 3 times a year outside the fornt of where I live, so yeah real value for money for me!
So £130 for the year.
Thankfully I still get my single persons discount or it would have been £165 a month.
I get my bins emptied every 3rd week depending on colour, I get street lighting and I need to fight with the street cleansing department to send a road sweeper round the cul-de-sac twice a year.
Oh, I forgot, they cut the grass 3 times a year outside the fornt of where I live, so yeah real value for money for me!
Associate
Mines shot up in South Northants. Was paying £245 a month on 10 month cycle. Gone up to £291 a month 
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Commissario
I think ours has gone up about 2.3% total, most of that is something like a 14% increase in policing.
Soldato
3.9% for the council + 1% to the parish council so they can give out more poxy grants and buy more bus shelters + 1.8% to the police so they can waste more time + 1% adult social care whatever that is.
So up quite a bit.
So up quite a bit.