Why Your Council Tax is So High

kriss_boy

Our private roads budget is to disappear next year though it will cause an onslaught of critisism and abuse from those who buy homes ignorant to the fact that the road outside is unadopted.

Its easy to knock local government when titillated with riduclous, sensationalised reports of, heaven forbid, a typo on a programme of works that resulted in 5 brand new street nameplates being replaced. Yup that person deserves to be sacked alright- costing their council about £50 in signs.

The reporting of the council that de-conkered trees is nothing but slander. If you actually read the story fully there were 10 trees in question (presumably literally 2 days work for a couple of guys and a cherry picker which would cost no more than £150) and it was the result of complaints from the public regarding the trees being damaged and presumably the odd claim coming in as a result.

Your council tax all goes on Education and Social Work.... not roads or community services.

molerat

The council that built garages too small for a car http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1878475

ILW

If you think that 2 days work and a cherry picker costs £150 you have no idea about public finances.

A._Badger

A council local to me employs a 'compost doctor'. Yes, that's right: a salary, pension, holidays and all the rest so a hippy can oversee the area's garden compost makers.

No profligacy there....

Generali

molerat wrote: »

The council that built garages too small for a car http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1878475

From the article:

In the first two phases, 167 garages were refurbished and 25 knocked down at a cost of £845,000.



In the third phase, 89 garages were to be demolished and 58 replaced.


The first eight garages of the final phase were completed in March but were found to be five inches too small. The remaining work was suspended but with 17 close to completion it was decided to finish these to protect against weather damage. So far the council has spent £204,277 on the third phase, which includes suspension costs.



The report’s recommendation will bring the cost of completing the project to £577,127.

So over the 3 phases, tax payers end up with 167+58-25 = 200 usable garages, refurbished or new.

Total cost = £845,000 + £204,277 + £577,127 = £1,626,404.

Cost per garage = 1626404/200 = £8,132 of which only 33 are new.

It's probably worth noting that £1,600,000 of taxpayers' money has reduced the number of available garages from 281 to 200.

gravitytolls

twirlypinky wrote: »

Recycling is a good way to save money actually, think about it. Even if you take the environmental theory away, reusing things rather than buying new ones is just good sense.

I work in the public sector and in our department we re use old reports as scrap paper and recycle as much as we can. Also, the council collect our recycling bins for free. Every other bin is charged by the weight depending on the type of waste.

So yes, it is a cost saving.

Tey don't you know, you pay via council tax, the other rubbish levies are just another way to scam a bit extra out of you under the green umbrella.

gravitytolls

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1172845/Now-thats-I-short-stay-car-park-Ticket-machine-18in-ground-help-wheelchair-drivers.html

Our local council installed a disabled car park machine, I say disabled as it was the machine that was impaired!

Andy_L

A._Badger wrote: »

A council local to me employs a 'compost doctor'. Yes, that's right: a salary, pension, holidays and all the rest so a hippy can oversee the area's garden compost makers.

No profligacy there....

How much does chucking compostable waste into landfill cost?
How much can "Dr Compost" reduce that waste by promoting composting?

Is that saving higher or lower than costs of employing them?

Andy_L

ILW wrote: »

If you think that 2 days work and a cherry picker costs £150 you have no idea about public finances.

No idea about any sort of finances. 2 guys for 2 days alone costs more than £150 just on pay even before the cherry picker & other employment costs

Really2

molerat wrote: »

The council that built garages too small for a car http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1878475

I like the excuse.

newly rebuilt garages were five inches too small, after bricks that were thicker than had been accounted for were used.

Call me thick but if say the garage should be 6'6" wide no mater how big the bricks are you would still measure 6'6" of internal width before building the internal walls.

If the bricks were bigger surely overall the whole building should be bigger than planed as I presume they have used the same number of bricks they were going to use.