Coun Gary Porter asks whether South Holland District Council should cut council tax again, even if it means reducing some services (Voice, November 5).
For me, it’s a clear no.
Remember, any action by SHDC only affects its portion of our bill, which this year represented 11 per cent of the total.
If my calculations are correct, the effect of the four successive annual cuts, which followed a freeze in 2011/12, is that householders in the 4,000 Band D properties have an extra £2.19 in their pocket per year than they had back then. For those people in the near 15,000 Band A properties it would be less.
Incidentally, there are 900 more properties paying council tax now than there were then too.
Let’s be honest, whilst it’s the kind of cut that we appreciate in these times of austerity, it’s been a headline-grabbing gimmick. A cut merely to say the council has cut.
If the council feels that not reducing its portion of my bill by 0.5 per cent next year will help protect the current level of service provision I’m all for it. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I’d be happy to pay 0.5 per cent more.
Name supplied
Spalding
