Christchurch tax payers also face 1.95% rise (From Bournemouth Echo)

The council's spending power has been by £4.88 per household in Christchurch, yet we would only be raising £2.74 per household through the proposed council tax increase - just over half of the loss in spending power.
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Oh that ok then, so their saying that I should be grateful to them for robbing me of more of my dwindling wage to pay for their away day jollys, subsidised meals and free travel along with their expenses fiddles on top of their excessive wage packets while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet, thieving tw***

What's the current rate of inflation?

It apears that these 'just short of 2%' dodgy increases by any Council amount to nothing less than absolute contempt for their own electorate and the Government.

How about a good-will gesture - matching these increases with a similar (1.95% - 1.99%) reduction in all the generous expenses and fat-cat salaries paid within the same Councils?

Thought not!

As usual the uneducated and downright stupid are making comments here about inflated salaries and fiddles, yet have not considered for a moment the freeze on council tax has had on the social care services where budgets have been cut to an almost dangerous level. The freeze could not continue in order to care for the elderly, those with learning difficulties and children in care and so on, because those numbers are ever increasing. It makes sense to increase council tax to safeguard those people after all central government dont give a stuff about the vulnerable.

s-pb2 wrote:
As usual the uneducated and downright stupid are making comments here about inflated salaries and fiddles, yet have not considered for a moment the freeze on council tax has had on the social care services where budgets have been cut to an almost dangerous level. The freeze could not continue in order to care for the elderly, those with learning difficulties and children in care and so on, because those numbers are ever increasing. It makes sense to increase council tax to safeguard those people after all central government dont give a stuff about the vulnerable.

And the currant recession and freeze on wages is of no consequence I suppose.
Perhaps you could explain just where struggling families are supposed to find this extra money along with rising food prices, fuel, electric and gas to name a few.
I we didn't pay for other peoples children to go to playschools while some parents sit at home all day watching their benefit paid for sky tv and smoking their benefit cigarettes perhaps there would be a little more money to pay for the elderly.

s-pb2 wrote:
As usual the uneducated and downright stupid are making comments here about inflated salaries and fiddles, yet have not considered for a moment the freeze on council tax has had on the social care services where budgets have been cut to an almost dangerous level. The freeze could not continue in order to care for the elderly, those with learning difficulties and children in care and so on, because those numbers are ever increasing. It makes sense to increase council tax to safeguard those people after all central government dont give a stuff about the vulnerable.

Local government has been the only growth 'industry' in this country for decades.
While private industry has had to become more efficient, in this computerised age, town halls have just grown out of control while cutting everything except there own head count, they are nothing more than self preservation societies!

s-pb2 wrote:
As usual the uneducated and downright stupid are making comments here about inflated salaries and fiddles, yet have not considered for a moment the freeze on council tax has had on the social care services where budgets have been cut to an almost dangerous level. The freeze could not continue in order to care for the elderly, those with learning difficulties and children in care and so on, because those numbers are ever increasing. It makes sense to increase council tax to safeguard those people after all central government dont give a stuff about the vulnerable.

For 'uneducated and downright stupid' please read 'enlightened and increasingly angry'.

Social care frontline public sector services and so much else could be easily maintained and even improved, without Council Tax rises.

But only if significant sums of taxpayers money was not going to risk free and self awarded Town Hall fat-cat salaries and their worker's unrealistic pension terms - unheard of in the private sector these days.

(Not spending £Millions of public money on dodgy projects and property purchases would also help - a lot!)

So the local Buffoons in their Ivory Tower are looking after themselves again! It's alright for me to make further cuts to my budget, but they can't find any more savings?
Me thinks they have even considered re-routing the river around the council offices and putting in a drawbridge to protect their hoardes of Gold, Silver & other plundered treasures!
Perhaps they should consider running like a business? i.e. Selling off assets and leasing back? After all if they're getting rid of the Furzehill Offices where's the money going to? East Dorset coffers I bet, Xch won't see a penny of it! Sigh - shafted again!
Now they want to waste money at Hurn roundabout, 'polishing a turd' as my old man would say. Absolute waste of money.
Then they have the gall to complain that they don't make enough money from car parks, well if you didn't give all these local rich OAP's bus passes, then they'd use their cars to come into town. Who pays for the bus passes ? Oh its us, the council tax payer! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!
Wake up to public sentiment before it's too late and you have to pull up the drawbridge! ha ha!

Rant over!

Democracy - they don't know the meaning of the word. Having actively worked against the residents interests they now wish to impose additional costs against the advice of central Government - a Conservative Minister is ignored (and this is supposed to be a Conservative Council) - they obviously presented themselves at election time FRAUDULENTLY.

Hessenford wrote:

s-pb2 wrote:
As usual the uneducated and downright stupid are making comments here about inflated salaries and fiddles, yet have not considered for a moment the freeze on council tax has had on the social care services where budgets have been cut to an almost dangerous level. The freeze could not continue in order to care for the elderly, those with learning difficulties and children in care and so on, because those numbers are ever increasing. It makes sense to increase council tax to safeguard those people after all central government dont give a stuff about the vulnerable.

And the currant recession and freeze on wages is of no consequence I suppose.
Perhaps you could explain just where struggling families are supposed to find this extra money along with rising food prices, fuel, electric and gas to name a few.
I we didn't pay for other peoples children to go to playschools while some parents sit at home all day watching their benefit paid for sky tv and smoking their benefit cigarettes perhaps there would be a little more money to pay for the elderly.

The current recession has been a significant factor in the increase of people needing the councils help. More adults are needing help to be able to feed and more children are going into care due to neglect from parents who are more interested in spending their money on drugs and booze.

The issues of benefits is a national policy, not a local one. You may have read that some local authorities are cutting council tax benefit, although of course there will be some genuinely needy families suffering as a result, but others like your example of sky tv watchers will have to pay more

jobsworthwatch wrote:

s-pb2 wrote:
As usual the uneducated and downright stupid are making comments here about inflated salaries and fiddles, yet have not considered for a moment the freeze on council tax has had on the social care services where budgets have been cut to an almost dangerous level. The freeze could not continue in order to care for the elderly, those with learning difficulties and children in care and so on, because those numbers are ever increasing. It makes sense to increase council tax to safeguard those people after all central government dont give a stuff about the vulnerable.

Local government has been the only growth 'industry' in this country for decades.
While private industry has had to become more efficient, in this computerised age, town halls have just grown out of control while cutting everything except there own head count, they are nothing more than self preservation societies!

Yes local government is a growth industry, but thats mainly because of the increasing demands of social care. Numbers of adults has increased and the number of children in the looked after system has been increasing at a ridiculous rate. These departments have been down the skin and bones for funding, amenities and staff for some time.

Your self preservation comment is like a broken record, yet as someone working for a private company with ongoing dealing with council social care sections I see the complete opposite happening. They are losing valuable and experienced carers and social workers at a rapid rate and are struggling to replace them. They are having to go to Eastern Europe to recruit them because there are so few in this country able to take on their roles, and thats down to lack of funding, support and amenities

muscliffman wrote:

s-pb2 wrote:
As usual the uneducated and downright stupid are making comments here about inflated salaries and fiddles, yet have not considered for a moment the freeze on council tax has had on the social care services where budgets have been cut to an almost dangerous level. The freeze could not continue in order to care for the elderly, those with learning difficulties and children in care and so on, because those numbers are ever increasing. It makes sense to increase council tax to safeguard those people after all central government dont give a stuff about the vulnerable.

For 'uneducated and downright stupid' please read 'enlightened and increasingly angry'.

Social care frontline public sector services and so much else could be easily maintained and even improved, without Council Tax rises.

But only if significant sums of taxpayers money was not going to risk free and self awarded Town Hall fat-cat salaries and their worker's unrealistic pension terms - unheard of in the private sector these days.

(Not spending £Millions of public money on dodgy projects and property purchases would also help - a lot!)

Working for an outside company looking into the council and its social care departments shows a lack of knowledge of the current state of social care. It was even reported this week that half of this country's resources will soon be paid to the social care sector and NHS. Thats how serious the social care situation is at the moment. There have been huge increases in the number of people coming into care, yet very little increase in the amount of money being given to these areas. Some councils are regularly having to have extra money given to the social care budgets from their reserves just to make ends meet. Unfortunately, it has got to the stage where for some councils freezing council tax again is no longer an option, there are far too many people and childrens lives at risk to be able to ignore this any longer. Im sure if a Baby P incident happened in your council you would be the first to criticise the council, yet it needs proper funds to be able to prevent. Its a small miracle that more Baby P incidents have not happened across the country.

I do agree with you though that council vanity projects should be cut altogether

Cut out some councillors expences, cut out the mayors car and driver, if they live within 2 miles of council office meeting get them to use their bus pas and save on mileage and car park fees. Well there is a start.