council tax rise

[alistair harper]

Just Heard On Murry Firth News Council Tax Is Going To Rise By 4.5 % In Caithness Highest Rise In Scotland Even Glasgow Got Off Without Rise
Whats Highland Council Trying To Do Force Everyone To Leave Caithness So They Dont Have To Spend Money On Repairs, Services,water Charges,eg Some Time You Have To Run Your Taps For A Couple Of Minuets To Get A Drinkable Glass Of Water,how Many Times Have You Called Out The Emergancy Services Dont Get Me Wrong They Do A Great Job Keeping Us Alive And Protected But Every Time The Council Puts Up Tax They Come Through With It Pays For Our Police Or Fire Service,not To Pay There Wages Because They Think They Deserve A Pay Rise, Yes Taking Your Money To Pay Them.how Many Drivers Have Had To Replace Tyres Or Suspension Because Of Pot Holes, How Many Kids Have Lost Their Play Equipment Because Council State We Cant Afford To Replace Items.how Many Nursaries Will Close.
Ask Yourself If Everyone Left Caithness They Would Soon Sit Back And Take Nottice Not That It Would Ever Happen But It Makes You Wonder

[CHUCKY]

A list of the % rise is on this link.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4690614.stm

Some places do have a higher % rise of 4.9%

[alistair harper]

ok thanks i stand corrected maybe not highest in scotland
at least i will admit moray firth radio did not give whole of scot
but the other places are far larger than wick or thurso
at least im willing to say i made a mistake do you think the council would do the same i wouldn't be so hopefull.

[CHUCKY]

ok thanks i stand corrected maybe not highest in scotland
at least i will admit moray firth radio did not give whole of scot
but the other places are far larger than wick or thurso
at least im willing to say i made a mistake do you think the council would do the same i wouldn't be so hopefull.


I wouldnt say you made a mistake at all, Moray Firth were probably only commenting on their own transmission area, who knows once the water charges and anything else is added on it could well be the highest.
I only posted the table so you could see how everthing compares.

[alistair harper]

thanks chucky every little bit of info helps lets see where it goes from here
take care

[Alice in Blunderland]

We are currently campaigning hard for no nurseries to close in Caithness.If we get our wish then we are sure the council will have to still look long and hard at other areas such as nice to have rather than need to have services to find savings.We have been told by more than one source that the council do not have enough money coming from the Scottish Executive to cover the costs of all the services and that the council tax is only a fraction of the money needed to keep all our services going.Why bother raising it if it still isnt going to cover the costs just go back to the MSPs and ask them if they can make ends meet on what they dish out to local authorities...

[alistair harper]

hi alice i agree, the children that go to our nurseries are the future of caithness the next generation if mothers cant find places for their kids they will soon look to other places in scot to stay and take the future with them
IM BEHIND YOU 100%

[Rheghead]

I also heard that councils were thinking of giving council tax rebates to households that reduce their household rubbish. We can do this painlessly by recycling our waste when we go past the supermarket or recycling centres.

That should save us a packet eh?

[Alice in Blunderland]

Thanks Alistair it was nice to give the council a wee headache on how to save the money without closing the nurseries .When pushed for an answer on how much cash this would save they had not quantified the costs was the reply.These are people in charge of spending the allocated cash....

[alistair harper]

Cheers Alice

I Say Power To Caithness Parents,dont Be Baffled By Big Words From Council There Only Human They Can Make Mistakes Only They Wont Admit It.
Take Care And Good Luck With Your Campaine

Speak Out Caithneesians Be Heard This Is Our County

[Drutt]

Glasgow City Council may have voted not to increase council tax this year, but compulsory redundancies may be inevitable in order to stay within budget.

And just to go off-topic for a second, why the feast or famine with the capitalisation? Does it not take forever to type that way? :p

[clash67]

I agree Alastair, the council seem to be making it very difficult for everyone to stay ahead of debt because of the endless taxes they keep piling on us, i personally am tired of being penilised for living here, with the fuel prices,important facilities getting closed, dounreay blatently lying to us and getting away with it, but I for one will not be hanging around much longer, i am seriously thinking about leaving Caithness after living here all my life, enough of paying endless taxes for so little return!!

[JAWS]

The one thing which stands out to me is that the one place in Scotland which screams loudest and longest that it should be given more and more out of the National Pocket manages not to have to increase Council Tax by even the Rate of Inflation.
That, in effect, amounts to a cut of a two and a half percent cut in Council Tax.
I can't help wondering where Glasgow got the money to do that without cutting Services?

Meanwhile, we get the threat of Nurseries being closed despite a rise in Council Tax of four and a half percent.

Something doesn't seem to add up as far as I'm concerned!

[robbain]

Get rid off your councillors in the next election, they are suppose to listen to your concerns, has any off them come to their local ward and ask the people for their views before they decide to vote on any matter ie council tax, cuts in service. Its seem that they think they know best without consulting us, they get a payrise at the expense off us. So bin yer councillor, give us a better voice who listens to the views of the public.

[Alice in Blunderland]

Get rid off your councillors in the next election, they are suppose to listen to your concerns, has any off them come to their local ward and ask the people for their views before they decide to vote on any matter ie council tax, cuts in service. Its seem that they think they know best without consulting us, they get a payrise at the expense off us. So bin yer councillor, give us a better voice who listens to the views of the public.
Having had numerous conversations with our local councillors who are 100 percent behind the retaining of our nurseries( for which highland council recieve a rural subsidy ) I feel that their hands are tied in these situations. Tough decisions have to be made as there is not enough money from the Scottish Executive,its easy to blame the local councillors for everything but its isnt all their fault.They are however our voice when all of highland region meet and they do shout long and hard for us...if anyone disagrees they can stand next year at the elections but I thnk you would have to be broad shouldered because you cannot please everyone all the time.

[robbain]

Excuse me what planet are you on, blaming the Scottish Executive. It is the Councillors who make the decisions not the Scottish Executive. Look at different Local Authorities - we are near the highest of the league 4.5% for increase of Council Tax, other Authorities have managed not to put a high increase in council tax. The major problem is that when the Districts become one Authority, and the councillors wanted decentralisation instead of centralisation, it is now backfiring on them. We are made to pay for it, the old saying to many chiefs not enough injuns, my feeling is that they should scrap all these managers, what a saving we would had, and services would not be cut, and also it would be a very small increase in Council Tax. Also pay for services you used not the ones you don't use.

[Alice in Blunderland]

I happen to be on this planet and currently campaigning hard to retain our nurseries.With this in mind we have looked long and hard into how the funding is allocated, yes its down to the local councillors to make tough decisions that is because the money they are handed by the Scottish Executive does not cover to provide all the services.As a rural community it costs a lot more to provide the services than in a city.Sack the councillors then who have we got in Inverness shouting for us when the cash is up for allocation..no cash our way then a huge hike in council tax as I said before the elections are next year a good opportunity for anyone to stand against the councillors and do a better job if they can.

[Moby]

Saddly today it was released that Rainbow Rascals (Thurso), Lybster & Norlands (Wick) have been earmarked for closure. The staff found out today and have been gagged from discussing anything. Councillors will meet on Monday 27th to make the decision(3 working days away). It appears they are rushing this through without public discussion. Staff and parents to be told of the Council's decision on Tuesday 12 noon. I understand that this has been under review for the past 2 months - No one has talked to the staff or parents during this time and No one has visited the centre.

On the Highland Council web site it clearly states that they "committed to major expansion of both pre-school education"...............More Council whitewash!!!

[robbain]

FAO Alice in Blunderland,
whats your view on this then?