Annual Council Tax Moan

Lefty Frizzell said:
It all adds up and is not needed. Travel, parking, the resources used to hold the meetings etc. Get them all online.

The whole model of councillors is just outdated imo. I prefer the model of representatives and advocates participating on different key matters.
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Here's an idea (and since you're a pro cash type)
How would you feel if to save money, councils completely did away with cash. All car parks ran 3rd party via app only etc?
 


42 said:
Here's an idea (and since you're a pro cash type)
How would you feel if to save money, councils completely did away with cash. All car parks ran 3rd party via app only etc?
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I wouldn’t agree with that. It’s not a very inclusive policy imo. There could be certain work arounds re parking, but I don’t see it as a major issue in the grand scheme of councils wasting money.
 
Lefty Frizzell said:
I wouldn’t agree with that. It’s not a very inclusive policy imo. There could be certain work arounds re parking, but I don’t see it as a major issue in the grand scheme of councils wasting money.
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But some would see taking cash as waste & not being efficient.

There's very little actual money being wasted. In the main it's people disagreeing with how it's spent based on their political persuasion
 
42 said:
Here's an idea (and since you're a pro cash type)
How would you feel if to save money, councils completely did away with cash. All car parks ran 3rd party via app only etc?
Click to expand...
Sod that, SCC using Ringgo app. If I’d had change £1.10 to park 30 mins in Fredrick St , used the app £1.60. Rip off the pay point app doesn’t increase the parking charge. Who’s getting the mark up?
 
zippie said:
Sod that, SCC using Ringgo app. If I’d had change £1.10 to park 30 mins in Fredrick St , used the app £1.60. Rip off the pay point app doesn’t increase the parking charge. Who’s getting the mark up?
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Probably the private company who SCC have given the tender to.

(I partly joking I have no idea if SCC have put their parking out to tender)
 
5.5% Increase here.
£2,827 per year - Doesn’t even include the cost of the garden waste bins.
Honestly - Only have one street light.
Ffs no idea as to what value that represents.
 
Swindon On Tour said:
5.5% Increase here.
£2,827 per year - Doesn’t even include the cost of the garden waste bins.
Honestly - Only have one street light.
Ffs no idea as to what value that represents.
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The garden waste bin annoys me. If you have it emptied regularly then it's probably worth paying for (around £45 I think), but it's a lot of money if you have a low maintenance garden and only produce enough waste to fill it a couple of time a year.
 
It's been said earlier but the system is completely broken when there are people all over the country paying more council tax than Buckingham Palace or any other millionaire or even billionaire's home in the UK.

Successive Govts have been scared to reform it in case it costs votes. The Govt would rather council's went bust than properly address spiralling social costs which that, combined with reduced central Govt support, being two of the main reasons for it being so high.
 
42 said:
The volvos are used just for the mayoral stuff (thought there was just the one, buy anyway). Driver obviously won't be on a full time wage, the private reg they've had for 50 years or whatever. The tories did propose selling it to raise funds, but a one off receipt for a few grand is not going to achieve much really.
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Ah well 2 chauffeur driven £50,000 volvos are fine then, the council can afford it.
 
2500 pretty much for band E in Hetton. House is worth about 200k and we are being mugged at band E just because the house is different to others near us (mainly old age bungalows).
 
Lefty Frizzell said:
Equality, diversity and inclusion isn’t free. Of course there is going to be increases.

In all seriousness, it’s an absolute disgrace. The whole council model is broken and not fit for purpose anymore. We need to seriously look at what is and what isn’t the remit of the council and then bring in the private sector to cover other more niche areas. They cannot and should not support everything.

I can not stand the wastage that goes on with public funds year on year. The old boys clubs of councillors, living out their remaining days in roles that they do because most of them just want to feel important and were unable to just retire. Get rid of the lot of them, every meeting to be held online moving forward (to save on the expenses gravy train).

the council should be run like any large business with a number of branches across the nation. Almost the car dealership model. They are all given the same blueprints and they are all closely monitored. Underperforming branches can have their leadership teams removed when required and staff from another branch can step in etc.

Couldn’t agree more. It’s pure wastage. So many of the services could be managed centrally. I wouldn’t even like to think how many bespoke IT systems are in place across all councils that deal with the same process.

I know it’s always important to keep a presence within cities and towns so that the public can see people face to face. However, imo roles that can be done remotely, should be when it’s the public purse we’re talking about. The same goes with the endless councillor meetings, which is where all of these huge expense claims come from (cost of travel and the lunch buffet/drinks reception).
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Re bespoke IT systems - not many. Council tax and benefits, there’s only 3 systems used by councils across the country. For most major systems there’s 3 or 4 that councils use. Gone are the days they used to have bespoke.
Swindon On Tour said:
5.5% Increase here.
£2,827 per year - Doesn’t even include the cost of the garden waste bins.
Honestly - Only have one street light.
Ffs no idea as to what value that represents.
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About 60-70% of your bill will be paying for adults and children’s social care for a start.
 
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Bloke next door said:
Re bespoke IT systems - not many. Council tax and benefits, there’s only 3 systems used by councils across the country. For most major systems there’s 3 or 4 that councils use. Gone are the days they used to have bespoke.
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Not entirely true, but understand the point you are making...was speaking to some staff from a Council the other week who wrote (and continue to maintain) their own.



But yep, only Capita, NEC and Civica. And they've all got considerably worse in terms of quality of software and support since I started dealing with the best part of 30 years ago.
Lefty Frizzell said:
Equality, diversity and inclusion isn’t free. Of course there is going to be increases.

In all seriousness, it’s an absolute disgrace. The whole council model is broken and not fit for purpose anymore. We need to seriously look at what is and what isn’t the remit of the council and then bring in the private sector to cover other more niche areas. They cannot and should not support everything.

I can not stand the wastage that goes on with public funds year on year. The old boys clubs of councillors, living out their remaining days in roles that they do because most of them just want to feel important and were unable to just retire. Get rid of the lot of them, every meeting to be held online moving forward (to save on the expenses gravy train).

the council should be run like any large business with a number of branches across the nation. Almost the car dealership model. They are all given the same blueprints and they are all closely monitored. Underperforming branches can have their leadership teams removed when required and staff from another branch can step in etc.

Couldn’t agree more. It’s pure wastage. So many of the services could be managed centrally. I wouldn’t even like to think how many bespoke IT systems are in place across all councils that deal with the same process.

I know it’s always important to keep a presence within cities and towns so that the public can see people face to face. However, imo roles that can be done remotely, should be when it’s the public purse we’re talking about. The same goes with the endless councillor meetings, which is where all of these huge expense claims come from (cost of travel and the lunch buffet/drinks reception).
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It shows how little you know about Local Government. Failing councils can and are put into special measures.

All face to face services should have a presence in the Borough/city etc. A number of councils do run back office services as partnerships. Hopefully, the devolution in the North East will allow these sort of efficiencies where possible.

However, it's worth being aware that Public Services still provide the North East with more jobs than any other sector as far as I'm aware. So if there is the potential to reduce the number of staff through the introduction of partnerships it's done in a way to ensure staff reductions are done with as few redundancies as possible.
 
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FatCat2402 said:
Not entirely true, but understand the point you are making...was speaking to some staff from a Council the other week who wrote (and continue to maintain) their own.



But yep, only Capita, NEC and Civica. And they've all got considerably worse in terms of quality of software and support since I started dealing with the best part of 30 years ago.


It shows how little you know about Local Government. Failing councils can and are put into special measures.

All face to face services should have a presence in the Borough/city etc. A number of councils do run back office services as partnerships. Hopefully, the devolution in the North East will allow these sort of efficiencies where possible.

However, it's worth being aware that Public Services still provide the North East with more jobs than any other sector as far as I'm aware. So if there is the potential to reduce the number of staff through the introduction of partnerships it's done in a way to ensure staff reductions are done with as few redundancies as possible.
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Couldn’t give a fck what you think to be honest. No idea why you’re being so aggressive on here when it’s just a discussion.

My experience of councils is that they are bloated, they under perform and provide extremely bad customer service. I’d sack the lot of them (in management) and start again if that was an option.
 
Bloke next door said:
Re bespoke IT systems - not many. Council tax and benefits, there’s only 3 systems used by councils across the country. For most major systems there’s 3 or 4 that councils use. Gone are the days they used to have bespoke.

About 60-70% of your bill will be paying for adults and children’s social care for a start.
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Has that 60/70% mark moved much in the last 20yrs or so? Or has this always been the majority of spend?

What has been the biggest increase that has arisen in that period that has put a big strain on councils?

Only asking as it sounds like you know your onions on this.
 
Lefty Frizzell said:
Has that 60/70% mark moved much in the last 20yrs or so? Or has this always been the majority of spend?

What has been the biggest increase that has arisen in that period that has put a big strain on councils?

Only asking as it sounds like you know your onions on this.
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Reduction in RSG

And I love that you say I'm being aggressive when you are the one saying you couldn't give a fuck what I think
 
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What do people expect? The rise in costs due to the extra stress put on services by all the recent uninvited guests, yet there's next to fuck all done to stop it.
 

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