BOTH THESE STORIES ARE FROM THIS WEEK’S KNOWLEDGE E-NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY EDDC:
That’s what happens when you live in Eton La-La Land!
“Council finances are in a “mess” and the vast majority have said they will need to increase charges for services to make ends meet in the face of a government funding cut of 28%, a think-tank has said. As councils finalise their 2016/17 budgets, nearly 90% said they will have to increase charges,
according to a survey by the Local Government Information Unit. The think-tank also found that:
40% would need to cut frontline services that are “evident to the public”. Nine in 10 councils will raise council tax in the coming year, compared with half in 2015. In addition, 82% of councils said they will have to dip into reserves to balance the books, up from 55% in 2015. Jonathan Carr-West, Chief Executive of LGiU, said: “Local government finance is a mess. Our research shows that right now councils are cobbling together their finances by using reserves and increasing charging wherever they can.”
So, district councils are transferring “assets” that cost money to maintain to towns and parishes – toilets, halls, etc – but not assets that make them lots of money, such as car parks. To retain these services, towns and parishes have to increase precepts to pay for them.
BUT
HERE IS THE SECOND STORY:
“Parish councils wanting to raise council tax “excessively” may have to first consult the public in line with larger authorities, the Government has warned. Analysis by BBC News show 3,659 parish councils raised the basic Band D tax bill by more than 1.99%, the referendum threshold for larger councils. Sixty small authorities at least doubled residents’ bills last year. Another 130 put their bills up by between 50 and 99% while 1,001 increased the annual bill for a Band D home by £5 or more.
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “Town and parish councils should protect their taxpayers from excessive council tax increases; if they fail to do so, government has the option of making them subject to the referendum principles in future.”
East Devon Watch 