Council tax.

Qwerty said:
Wealthier areas have more houses in Band E and above. If a shit load of band E, F and G houses were built and occupied in Co.Durham the lower bands will come down.
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Unlikely. It is so ingrained that it goes up 4.99% that the Council would just treat the new builds as extra revenue rather than divide the amount they need to raise amongst the chargeable properties.
 


Dan..Dan..Dan..Dan said:
Unlikely. It is so ingrained that it goes up 4.99% that the Council would just treat the new builds as extra revenue rather than divide the amount they need to raise amongst the chargeable properties.
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If that happened they could be called to account. Presently Band D houses are under 10% of the total houses in Co. Durham.
 
Dan..Dan..Dan..Dan said:
Unlikely. It is so ingrained that it goes up 4.99% that the Council would just treat the new builds as extra revenue rather than divide the amount they need to raise amongst the chargeable properties.
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Prior to 2010 it probably would have done. But because there's now limits to how much it can increase coupled with central government funding cuts, they're unable to make that adjustment
 
Gingga said:
£1,699.33 for a band A in Peterlee, they are seriously taking the piss. They must think we are all loaded.
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We must have the highest Council Tax in the country in Peterlee. I think Durham is the highest in general, but then there's the extra for Peterlee council, and then there's the problem that there's a huge portion of low value houses - so there's a poor distribution of higher-payers to take the strain - so it gets shared more evenly to the lower end.

Checked - yep, Peterlee and Horden, band A are £1700. Almost every other location in county Durham is £1500. Two shit places pay 13% more than everyone else in the county. Shocking really.

Went to ONS - pulled up the parish councils precept data. Low and behold, Horden 3rd, Peterlee 5th, Easington 7th for the entire country! This is out of over 10,000 places!
Average on precept for local council (i.e. on top of council tax) is £46. Peterlee is £288!

Fucks sake.
 
PTR said:
We must have the highest Council Tax in the country in Peterlee. I think Durham is the highest in general, but then there's the extra for Peterlee council, and then there's the problem that there's a huge portion of low value houses - so there's a poor distribution of higher-payers to take the strain - so it gets shared more evenly to the lower end.

Checked - yep, Peterlee and Horden, band A are £1700. Almost every other location in county Durham is £1500. Two shit places pay 13% more than everyone else in the county. Shocking really.

Went to ONS - pulled up the parish councils precept data. Low and behold, Horden 3rd, Peterlee 5th, Easington 7th for the entire country! This is out of over 10,000 places!
Average on precept for local council (i.e. on top of council tax) is £46. Peterlee is £288!

Fucks sake.
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How the fuck has Horden got a precept which appears to be £200 more than some other parishes? What the fuck are the Parish Council responsible for?
 
FatCat2402 said:
How the fuck has Horden got a precept which appears to be £200 more than some other parishes? What the fuck are the Parish Council responsible for?
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Cems, crems & parks. Think that's about it. Oh and putting on a few local events in the parks.
 
42 said:
Cems, crems & parks. Think that's about it. Oh and putting on a few local events in the parks.
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They don't do cremations - they go to Durham.
And you have to buy a plot in Horden Cem.
I just read their annual statement. £700k budget. Only about £5k went on expenses to council staff, nobody getting more than about £500. There are staff costs though.
Other than that, aye, looks like they run their own parks. Not sure how other towns manage to have parks then - surely the county council maintain them? So why are some towns owning and paying for their own? Fuck them off to the county council to run?
 
42 said:
Cems, crems & parks. Think that's about it. Oh and putting on a few local events in the parks.
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Dear me. That's just outrageous. I suspect there's a few people enjoying a bit of expenses at the Parish/town Council

I never understand preventing councils. I'm guessing it's just some ancient shite that's too much of a fuck on to undo.
 
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PTR said:
They don't do cremations - they go to Durham.
And you have to buy a plot in Horden Cem.
I just read their annual statement. £700k budget. Only about £5k went on expenses to council staff, nobody getting more than about £500. There are staff costs though.
Other than that, aye, looks like they run their own parks. Not sure how other towns manage to have parks then - surely the county council maintain them? So why are some towns owning and paying for their own? Fuck them off to the county council to run?
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Was just referring to town & parish councils in general, not specifically horden. They don't tend to have much in the way off staff. Usually a town clerk & a few gardeners & grave digger. All will be part time.

A lot of these are probably just historical, but if say residents of Washington thought sunderland council weren't doing a good job looking after parks & communal flower pots etc, they can request a town council to be set up. Hetton have one, so they pay a bit more council tax than the rest of Sunderland.
No idea how you can request to get rid of them.

One of the other reasons they're a bit expensive is that they're not subject to the increase limits government has imposed on proper councils. When Cameron bribed councils to freeze the council tax, town & parish councils could still increase theirs. So some County councils passed off bits they could to them as a bit of a loophole.
 
42 said:
Was just referring to town & parish councils in general, not specifically horden. They don't tend to have much in the way off staff. Usually a town clerk & a few gardeners & grave digger. All will be part time.

A lot of these are probably just historical, but if say residents of Washington thought sunderland council weren't doing a good job looking after parks & communal flower pots etc, they can request a town council to be set up. Hetton have one, so they pay a bit more council tax than the rest of Sunderland.
No idea how you can request to get rid of them.

One of the other reasons they're a bit expensive is that they're not subject to the increase limits government has imposed on proper councils. When Cameron bribed councils to freeze the council tax, town & parish councils could still increase theirs. So some County councils passed off bits they could to them as a bit of a loophole.
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But it only goes one way.
If town councils are doing the work of the county council, why don't we get money off the council tax!
 
PTR said:
But it only goes one way.
If town councils are doing the work of the county council, why don't we get money off the council tax!
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Because councils are struggling to provide services due to lack of funding from central government. And this is a creative way of paying for something
 
42 said:
Because councils are struggling to provide services due to lack of funding from central government. And this is a creative way of paying for something
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The only thing Hetton TC was worth paying for was the Brass Band....it's long gone.
 
Salem-Hillbilly said:
Buckingham Palace, valued at ~£1 billion, sits in band H and is charged £1,828 by Westminster City Council, less than an average three-bedroom property in Blackpool.
In 2024, 46 per cent of households in England will pay more in council tax than the Palace.
From The Economist
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So that's about a tenner per bedroom. Here's me thinking the Royals don't pay their taxes. GSTK. LOL.
 
I imagine the good burghers of South Shields are going to be less than enamoured when their 2024 Council Tax bill arrives as they sit enveloped in a mountain of refuse and rats.
 
Swindon On Tour said:
£2550 last year for a couple of weekly bin collections.
Awaiting the new extortionate increase this year.

On top of that get charged £71 for 2 bins for garden Waste.
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I have just the one and that is £63.50 in Taunton!
Tuono said:
How many live there? Bring back the Pole Tax. 😆
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Racist!!! Can't believe you'd suggest that.










We all know it's the Romanian tax we really need! 😉
 
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Big Jeff said:
I imagine the good burghers of South Shields are going to be less than enamoured when their 2024 Council Tax bill arrives as they sit enveloped in a mountain of refuse and rats.
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I'd not mind so much if once you strip out the things outside of their control, the vast majority of the discretionary amounts were not ploughed in to Ocean Road and making pretty the wealthiest few estates of South Shields.
 

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