Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Highland Council budget - "a whiff of the apocalypse"

Iain Bain seems less than impressed with the recent budget set by the three-party ruling coalition at Glenurquhart Road. In his editorial in this week's Leopold Street Thunderer he comments that the Council Tax has not been raised for a sixth year running and he goes on to say: 

"While tax payers might be happy there is also a whiff of apocalypse about this." 

He continues with his usual succinct style of expanding his argument, and if he is unhappy with the administration he looks equally unhappy, or maybe even more so, with the Independent opposition or what he says as a lack of opposition. All yours for 45p at newsagents near you.

Colin MacAulay had a different way of seeing it, he wrote on his facebook page last week:

"I hadn't seen "crocodile tears" outside of a zoo until yesterday!  The so-called "leadership" of the Independent (Tory) Group came up with a "back of a fag packet" budget that tried to make us blow the Council's reserves." He went a lot further than that too - you can read his attack on the Independents a few articles into his page here. 

Once again this observer must add that he is very happy with the Council Tax freeze. The Council tax takes a massive chunk out of the incomes of those who are on modest or minimum wage budgets. Yes there are things to pay for and the money has to come from somewhere but Council Tax rises would simply help push more people into poverty in these very trying times.  

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, our combined household costs for travelling to work, oil and electricity far, far, far, outweigh our council tax costs. As I decide whether or not I really need any lights on at all or whether we could without radiator heating altogether. As I make a fire in one room in the evening and then fill the room with wet washing that I am struggling to dry and thank heaven that I have no young babies at home now. I listen as news of scandal after scandal after scandal (banking system, hospitals, care of young vulnerable, phone hacking, flaws in the food chain, abuse of young women, MPs expenses, cash for influence, failures at BBC - nothing important then) is broadcast on the radio and I am sick at heart as politicians seem to have failed and failed and failed. I am sick because we vote for them, or don't bother to vote for them which is just as bad. It drags you down, makes you cynical and yes I know the definition.

The Penny Dropped said...

Finally councillors have woken up to the reality they should be curbing directors vastly inflated salaries. It’s stuck in the craw of Joe Public for years that while we battle to survive these grossly over-rated officials are picking up salaries which are totally beyond their worth. Councillors like nodding donkeys reply – but we won’t get the best people to run our affairs if we don’t match what they can get in the private sector. Bollocks to that. Let them try it in the private sector. Then they will be living in the real world. They wouldn’t hack it. Well done for pegging the council tax. I have not notice one jot of the service I get from the council since they pegged the tax six years ago.

3 horsemen said...

I'm intrigued. What does 'a whiff of apocalypse' smell like?

Clearly Mr Bain has the ability to filter it through his nostrils to make such a proclamation, and has obviously noted the odour before

A gifted man if ever there was one, but we may never know the answer