Council Tax

macaque_2

A 'free' local council newspaper was pushed through my letter box this week. It arrived a few few days before the announcement of council tax rises. Reading it, I am left wondering whether Prava reporters from the old soviet era have taken jobs on our local council. Everything in the paper is good news. Everyone has a fixed grin as though they have been injected with embalming fluid. The front page article talks about good value for money and good quality services. When you read it carefully however, it turns out this is not a reality but an aspiration. They proudly announce that the Audit commission findings are that they are 'improving'. What the Audit Commission actually said about our local council was:

"This was because customer satisfaction with the services remains low, customer focus is under-developed, and service performance is mixed: some is good but some is unsatisfactory."

Council pensions are another subject they did not talk about. The Guardian however did have something to say on the subject:

"Householders in Sutton are subsidising the £16.6m cost of gold-plated public sector pensions for 32 town hall workers."

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/suttonnews/4170693.Handful_of_pensions_costing_taxpayers___16_6m/

P.S. I am not in sutton.

Old_Slaphead

Quote from a Mr Goebbels of Fuehrerbunker Street, Berlin -

"Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play"

dealsearcher

macaque wrote: »

A 'free' local council newspaper was pushed through my letter box this week. It arrived a few few days before the announcement of council tax rises. Reading it, I am left wondering whether Pravda reporters from the old soviet era have taken jobs on our local council. Everything in the paper is good news. Everyone has a fixed grin as though they have been injected with embalming fluid. The front page article talks about good value for money and good quality services.

I have to agree. I don't really read ours. Sometimes I feel obliged to have a cursory look through though. This only reinforces the impression that you have. Depressing isn't it? :sad:

drc

macaque wrote: »

Council pensions are another subject they did not talk about. The Guardian however did have something to say on the subject:

"Householders in Sutton are subsidising the £16.6m cost of gold-plated public sector pensions for 32 town hall workers."

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/suttonnews/4170693.Handful_of_pensions_costing_taxpayers___16_6m/

:eek: That is absolutely shocking. What a rip off.

mewbie_2

macaque wrote: »

"Householders in Sutton are subsidising the £16.6m cost of gold-plated public sector pensions for 32 town hall workers."

Always "gold-plated". Not silver or bronze plated, or even wood veneered, maybe thrown in a kiln. No. Gold-plated. Basically it's a pension. Get over it.

drc

mewbie wrote: »

Always "gold-plated". Not silver or bronze plated, or even wood veneered, maybe thrown in a kiln. No. Gold-plated. Basically it's a pension. Get over it.

I thought council tax was meant to provide services like rubbish collection, police, street lighting etc not subsidising the local council workers pension! Has council tax increased so much over the last 10 years because there are more pension pots which need filling or are the pots just getting bigger? Seems a bit unfair to me. Surely people should be encouraged to pay for their own private pension rather than having council tax payers subsidise theirs?

mewbie_2

drc wrote: »

I thought council tax was meant to provide services like rubbish collection, police, street lighting etc not subsidising the local council workers pension! Has council tax increased so much over the last 10 years because there are more pension pots which need filling or are the pots just getting bigger? Seems a bit unfair to me. Surely people should be encouraged to pay for their own private pension rather than having council tax payers subsidise theirs?

I'm not an expert, you need Generali for that, but the pensions have to be paid. If there isn't enough in the pension plan kitty then it comes out of taxation. The problem with pensions isn't just restricted to councils.

Graham_Devon

sockpuppets wrote: »

We should bring back the poll tax and get the peasants to fork out some of their dole money for local services too. They'll only waste it on special brew otherwise. Cheers

You're trying way to hard.

drc

mewbie wrote: »

I'm not an expert, you need Generali for that, but the pensions have to be paid. If there isn't enough in the pension plan kitty then it comes out of taxation. The problem with pensions isn't just restricted to councils.

I'm not disputing that the problem isn't just restricted to councils. I don't see why "it's got to be paid". Of course, legally they cannot NOT pay their pensions but I think morally it is totally wrong and it is pension 'apartheid'. I also think that this cannot go on indefinitely as there is only so much the council tax payer can afford to pay. It's a bit like a pyramid scheme whereby the people at the bottom (the council tax payers) become fewer with an increasing burden whilst the people at the top become more (and more demanding) until the whole thing collapses. There needs to be a change and things like this are part of the reason why we are in such financial dire straights now :mad:.

macaque_2

mewbie wrote: »

Always "gold-plated"

Not my words. I suggest you take that up with the Guardian.

mewbie_2

drc wrote: »

more stuff

I mainly started this because of the term "gold-plated" which is a bit of a nonsense. I guess a council job has a council pension. That's the deal. Bit unfair to take pensions away, we're talking cleaners, bin men, librarians here, not Fred Goodwin. And if you think they are so well off, then go for a job in the council.