Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

Well it finally dropped on my doorstep today, the council tax bill, finally with just over a week to go before payments are required ,think its leaving it at a bit short notice myself, in Burnley i have noticed that the bill can be spread over a 12 month period if paying by direct debit so reducing you`re monthly outgoings by an average of £20 (ish) and they have a choice of 5 ,yes 5 Direct debit dates, do we have this option ....? no....should we have this option?...of course so come on HBC sort yourselves out for next year. a bit more notice and a bit more flexability will go a long way in reducing you`re non payments i think.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

I got my bill today:(
but i prefer to spread over 10 months, that way i have 2 FREE months:D
which i might add, comes in very handy;)

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

Must say i`d probably stick to the 10 month plan but the 12 month plan would help a lot of peoples budgeting. Its Just about giving us more flexability.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

I always e-mail them when I get the bill and pay over 12 months instead. They don't publicise it but they will let you do it.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

MMMMMMMM interesting. cheers

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

We pay monthly too.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

I got my bill today and it said that I get no council tax benefit, was straight on the phone to sort it out (I get income support as a single parent) Apparantly there has been many letters sent out with the same problem advising no entitlement, this is an error so anyone in the same situation needs to advise the council of this and they will reveiw the bill sent out. It came as a bit of a shock but easy sorted (after spending nearly 10 minutes on hold though)

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

Well guess you've all covered this apart from the increase again!!

Just glad that they have allowed the 1st of month instead of the 16th like last year...

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

I found out yesterday that council tax band A is £75.15 cheaper in Blackburn with Darwen. :(

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

They don't have Lancashire County Council hanging round their their neck Margaret:rolleyes:

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

It is also notable that the County want Hyndburn council to hand over all the Nowcard subsidy to them , for them to administer it.
I am glad that I have heard that Hyndburn council are resisting that

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

I was under the impression that that is because there are more households in Blackburn with Darwen than there are in Hyndburn.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

why should that be a factor though?:confused:

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

It means that the expenses of council leader are shared out between more people, therefore making it cheaper per person:)

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

If there are more households in Blackburn with Darwen than there are in Hyndburn then the council tax will work out cheaper in Blackburn as there are more people paying it.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

yes but to me it should be based on size etc etc not how many.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

But more people mean more services are needed - eg -more bins to empty etc :confused:

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

But the expensive overheads ie chief executives etc will still be a similar number. The biggest reason is what somebody said before, they don't have to pay for the leeches at county hall.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

As I understand it, there are more band D properties in Blackburn, therefore more money going in to the council, making it cheaper for the people in band A.

In Hyndburn there are more band A properties.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

That's wrong.

I lived in same sized, neighbouring boroughs in London.

When I was in Lambeth it was the highest priced borough in the country, whilst when I lived in Wandsworth it was the cheapest in the U.K. One year we all paid nothing at all, and even got back fourteen pounds!

Mind you, one borough was a loony left council, and the other was a Tory flagship council.

Guess where I prefered living, and decided to buy?:D

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

Well the Tories were good for something then Rindi:D

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

There is a huge difference between Blackburn with Darwen and Hyndburn Lilly, okay as you say Blackburn has more houses than we have, but the structuring is different, around 82% of the money raised in Hyndburn goes to the County Council were as all the money raised in Blackburn goes to them, minus a small amout for policing (I think) although they have to pay for things like Education an Social Services, its really hard work to compare the two authorities as they are structured differently

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

Here is my band C breakdown.

Lancashire County Council - £957.39
Police - £120.85
Combined Fire (whatever that is) - £53.48
Hyndburn Borough Council - £195.24

Total £1396.96

That means out of the whole bill less than 14% goes to our local Council yet we all blame them for the bill being so high.

It is LCC that should pull their collective fingers out and spend my £957.39 on sorting out the local roads and footpaths. See the mess they made in the Hodder Street tree thread.

Out of interest has anyone had any dealing with LCC? Did they do anything usefull for them?
I have had little to do with them, they did offer the Park all the money to restore the path and fencing. At the last minute the offer was halved and it looked like we would not get the work done. At the last minute Hyndburn stepped in and supported us with the shortfall from County.

LCC can't even get this roundabout built at the Britannia Crossroads in Ossy - they have been messing around for well over 2 if not 3 years on that one. Our County Councillor did get rather upset when this fact was pointed out to her at the last Area Council meeting.

Come to think of it our County Councillor did not appear to have done much in the last four months. At the Area Council Meeting all the Councillors ( included our County Councillor ) give an update to what they have been doing. A couple of them managed to make a few phone calls for their residents but most have been busy on worth while issues. I would have expected our County Councillor would have been really busy with almost 5 times as much money to spend. Maybe she was just being modest ;)

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

County Councillor Westell got the vandalised changing huts at Heys playing fields demolished pretty rapid, and kept nearby residents well informed of progress leading to demolition. What delay there was, was due to the need for an abestos check.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

What is she doing to help the football club rebuild on the land? What about the £100,000 they need to fence off the area, are County paying for that? After all it's only just over 100 times my LCC contribution. The fence would stop the current problems with motor bikes and 4x4's on the grass.

I hope she does find this money and this fence gets built very soon.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

The obvious answer to where the LCC money goes is to have a look in the areas where county councillors live, easy to see where the money goes, it certainly isn't ferngore or springhill or the like.

Re: Council Scam....err sorry Tax.
 

Well if there is lack of investment by the county council in that area they've only themselves to blame, Doreen Pollitt has been their representative at County Hall for years derek