Mark Pritchard says he has done excellent to keep council tax down to 6.95%

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  • #199221

    thetown
    Participant

    What can you say when it looks if our council tax will be going up by 6.95% Mark Pritchard says it could have come in at 7,8,9%.Any idea what the average rise for England and Wales is.

    #199224

    David Thomas
    Participant

    I was thinking more of a council tax rebate seeing services aren’t even open and schools etc closed!

    #199226

    Matt
    Participant

    It’s a bit of a cheek in this current difficult economic climate to turn round and say accept 6.95% which is a high increase – well above inflation – then pluck some even bigger numbers out of the air to try and justify it.

    It’s like punching someone in the face and telling them to be happy with the bloodied nose they got because they could have been given 2 black eyes as well.

    I think there should have been a freeze on council tax rate for the next financial year as those attempting to work for a living who are expected to pay to run the county are having a hard time of it with all these lockdowns and closures.

    Lots of people are still on furlough and means they are only getting 80% of their take home pay and recently some businesses have been cutting back contracted hours because they have to chip into the furlough pay which means staff are paid furlough rate on less hours. No prospect of any overtime pay either, which I know a lot of people rely upon.

    Self employed businesses not able to function properly, also on 80%. These people are all expected to continue paying their council tax and now the council want to take a bigger slice of their money from a much smaller pie.

    Lots of households are struggling to pay the current year’s council tax off with huge arrears built up – let alone worry about additional larger tax bills coming in April. Councillor Pritchard has completely misread this situation and whilst there is no sign of let up in restrictions across Wales. People are going to continue to not be able to work and earn to line the council coffers.

    You can’t help but feel a bit envious of those who are exempt from paying council tax who have been completely unaffected by this pandemic as they sit at home business as usual being paid to do absolutely nothing. This is not a dig at those genuinely unable to work or have lost their job because of the pandemic who deserve the financial support to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.

    It’s more annoyance at the definitely sizeable proportion of the town who have sat on their backsides for the past decade or so and not even attempted to do an honest day’s work in their lives and even attempt to pay council tax to keep this town going. Why should we all foot the bill and be threatened with bailiffs if we can’t afford to pay because we can’t earn enough money because of Covid?

    It is what it is I guess and normal times it wouldn’t be a problem, but now it is and it will be interesting to see how heavy the council come down on people as they are desperate to claw back revenue.

    #199232

    TimRegency
    Participant

    George Osborne’s local government/council budget cuts.

    As John McDonnell pointed out a while ago, local councils are being used as‘human shields’ for hard-right Tory austerity cuts. The public voted for it.

    #199233

    JaneJ
    Participant

    This is pre election politics – frighten the local Labour Assembly Member into going back to WG to reconsider the 2.3% settlement. The Labour opposition groups have been given the golden ticket to campaign on ‘Remember who has mad the Council increase your rates!’

    #199240

    zinger
    Participant

    I guess that this is just the beginning. Didn’t we hear recently that Wrexham had received the lowest amount of funding from WAG.

    Dec 2020 Welsh Government have issued their provisional funding settlements for councils today, with Wrexham getting a 2.3% increase – the second lowest increase in the country.
    Wrexham Council had been hoping for an uplift around 4%, with one council insider giving an immediate flavour of the reaction in the Guildhall, saying “we are gutted” by the draft settlement figure.
    The overall Wales figure is a 3.8% uplift in funding, slightly below the 4% figure the WLGA had also been hoping for.

    2019 “The majority of councils in North Wales have seen a smaller increase in funding compared to authorities elsewhere in Wales, with four of the bottom five authorities in terms of funding increases all from North Wales.”
    “Of the five authorities to see the largest increase, four have a Labour-run administration, and have reserves totalling some £301 million.”

    #199269

    thetown
    Participant

    Just checking the last four council tax rises have 4%,5%,6.95% and 6.95% so in four years that is an extra 22.9%.What will nexy year be Iam going for a big fat 10%

    #199285

    JP
    Participant

    It is actually 25%, the increases are compound.

    #199608

    pastrylover
    Participant

    24.9% to be exact.

    #199609

    Comment 8or
    Participant

    Can I just take this opportunity to remind anyone who may be interested that the Council has a fresh consultation (via yourvoicewrexham.net) on its approach to setting the budget figure for 2021/22. It’s currently open until 5th February. There is only one question, so you have to include all your views and opinions in the first box. It doesn’t take long to complete.

    The article and link is also available in Wrexham.com

    Council Tax Budget Survey

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