Paying for council services

ACCORDING to the Tories, a horrendous increase in council tax is to be visited upon us, with proposals for rolling revaluations of our homes. Local government spokesman Eric Pickles says a house price tax will up the amount we pay for council services, increasing in line with property inflation and every time we make improvements to our homes, such as new kitchens and conservatories.

The Local Government Association wants to introduce a system whereby householders would no longer have to pay for waste disposal on their council tax bills, but instead be charged per kilo for the amount of refuse which could not be recycled. Just who is going to weigh our trash has not been indicated.

Council tax is not popular. Neither were the rates nor the poll tax. But local services have to be paid for somehow. The Treasury wants to cut its support for local councils and believe the tax on property prices will ease the exchequer's burden.

One way to cut the burden is to get rid of the army of council appointees who serve on outside bodies, picking up a handsome salary in addition to their allowances as councillors.

Professional councillors are very much the norm in some areas, with some benefiting from tens of thousands of pounds by becoming a know-all on everything from police and fire services to hospital boards.

I'm all for paying councillors a salary - but they shouldn't be rewarded for serving on outside bodies. Are health boards more efficient for having councillors serve on them? Quite patently, they are not.