(20 Sep 2024, 4:49 pm)Adrian wrote Other means of income is a good point. People often (incorrectly) assume that Council expenditure is predominantly from Council tax receipts. Business rates don't even come close to plugging that gap, as the 'Councils retain half' element doesn't exactly work like that, with the 50% for Councils then being divided up equally between all Local Authorities. 

On top of that, Councillors of course have a legal requirement to set a balanced budget. So those outside of the Government of the day, are essentially enforced by statute to deliver UK Government austerity. Councils do some awful wasteful stuff, as do most organisations, but they don't half take a lot of flack for making the most out of an awful financial situation.

Hopefully people will take part in this LTP consultation with some good and positive feedback.

Even those council tax receipts have fallen behind inflation as I remember that increases were heavily capped back in the (counting prime ministers on fingers and toes) Cameron days with a threat of penalties if Councils tried to increase by more than 2%. A relief in the short term for taxpayers but here we are now. One. Of the many reasons why councils of all flavours are going bust (another being that forced realisation that it's not acceptable to pay women less than men for work of equal standing.)

But vulnerable people still need to be supported so a lot of what's left ends up sent that way while unsafe and inaccessible bridges have to be demolished unless another sofa is found like the one that this thread is about.