THE softening up process prior to swingeing council tax increases next year has already started.
Lydney Town Council has announced it needs an 18 per cent increase to keep things going. The District Council has a shortfall of £12 million in the council houses black hole. It is not so long since the County Council funded the pedestrianisation of the city centre with substantial contributions from the county taxpayers who benefited the least. No doubt they have other grandiose schemes in mind for next year.
Everybody will be hit hard by the increases but probably most of all the pensioners. Many had saved a small nest egg while working in the hope that the interest would boost the niggardly state pension. Interest rates have fallen so drastically in the last 12 months that £1,000 invested produces about 30 pence per week.
Anyone managing a domestic budget knows that when times are hard it is necessary to restrict spending to keep it below the rate of income. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to have sunk in to councillors of any level.
They think that if they have an idea the taxpayer is an endless source of funds who will have to stump up.
It is about time that a law was passed restricting council tax increases to the rate of inflation – and this should be controlled in such a way that it can't be fiddled in the same way it was when annual pension increases are being worked out. – B.C. Baker, Allastone Road, Lydney.