So, as I mentioned in my earlier blog post 3 years of CWaC Labour budgets have given Frodsham residents a council tax that is nearly 15% higher than it was when they took office.
There have been inflation busting rises pushed on us over those years by the Police and Crime Commissioner, The Fire Authority and Frodsham Town Council but by far the largest contributor to these increases is CWaC Labour.
From my perspective what's worse is the lack of innovation, and the lack of planning. Labour reaches all too easily for the 'tax and spend' routine - and in this case has done so when having a £6m surplus that has been earmarked for anything specific. In 2018-19 there is another near £6m sum being added to the General Reserves too.
Frodsham was only mentioned in the budget and council tax papers as a source of income. There were no budgets or allocations for new leisure facilities. There were no budgets or allocations for improving and expanding the station car park.
For Frodsham residents the council tax raised from us is made of 4 components. The largest 'chunk' is the Council Tax raised by CWaC. In addition to that we pay council tax to the Police and Crime Commissioner, The Fire Authority and Frodsham Town Council. In other places there is a 5th share called 'special expenses.' Special expenses try to iron out the double taxation inequality caused by a town or parish council providing a service, which elsewhere is provided by CWaC. The special expenses figure for Frodsham is £0 so we can largely ignore it.
The following pie chart shows who gets what. All figures quoted are for a Band D home. I explain how you work out your council tax if you are not a Band D payer later. The proportion of council tax taken by each authority is the same no matter which council tax band your home is in.
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This chart shows how the CWaC council tax has changed since the council was created on 1 April 2009.
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Under the Conservatives over 7 budgets the CWaC element of the council tax barely changed. And if you take account of inflation the effect of this approach was a real terms reduction of 14%.
Under Labour the council tax paid by a Band D tax payer to CWaC has gone from £1,267.92 to £1,444.95 - an increase of £177.03 or a 14% increase in actual terms.
This next chart shows the percentage change in the council tax charged by CWaC since 2010. Under the Conservatives the tax rises (when they occurred were modest) and in several years the council tax did not rise, and in one year it was reduced.
The 3 recent years of Labour control are in stark contrast to the 7 years where the level of council tax charged changed little. In the 3 years of Labour control the council tax has risen by more than 4% twice and this year by more than 5%.
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The following chart shows the percentage change in the council tax levied for Cheshire Police since 2014. The PCC's latest increase in council tax is an astonishing 7.3%.
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Over the year's FTC's council tax take has become more significant - it is catching up with the money paid in council tax to the Fire Authority.
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The percentage changes chart is quite astonishing and needs some further explanation.
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So putting all these charts together and looking at the total council tax we pay to CWaC, the PCC, the Fire Authority and FTC over the years we get this:
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The chart shows how stable to total council tax taken was from 2010-2015 and how rapidly it has risen since then.
Thiis next chart confirms this as shows the percentatge change in council tax over the years for Frodsham residents taking account of all the council tax we pay to each of the four organisations.
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What this chart shows is that in two of the last three years Frodsham council tax payers have faced rises of over 5% and when taking the three years as a whole the rises we have had to pay have amount to nearly 15% - and this at a time when inflation remains low.
All these charts are based on being a Band D tax payer. The amounts of money people pay change depending on the band their home is in. That said the proportions remain the same so all the charts and graphs would look the same - just with different cash amounts.
The council tax system is all based on ninths and uses what a Band D tax payer pays as its base. At the risk of stating the obvious a Band D payer pays 9/9ths of the Band D tax set by the council.
So taking the Band D figure as the base a Band A council tax payer, pays 6/9ths - or 2/3rds of the amount a Band D payer pays. The corresponding figures are Band B pays 7/9ths, Band C 8/9ths, Band E 11/9ths, Band F 13/9ths, Band G 15/9ths and Band H 18/9ths or double what a Band D tax payer pays.
In addition to the banding there are a number of discounts and exemptions that may apply. When you get your council tax bill through the post in the next few days you will find details of how to apply for any of the relevant discounts or exemptions.
There have been inflation busting rises pushed on us over those years by the Police and Crime Commissioner, The Fire Authority and Frodsham Town Council but by far the largest contributor to these increases is CWaC Labour.
From my perspective what's worse is the lack of innovation, and the lack of planning. Labour reaches all too easily for the 'tax and spend' routine - and in this case has done so when having a £6m surplus that has been earmarked for anything specific. In 2018-19 there is another near £6m sum being added to the General Reserves too.
Frodsham was only mentioned in the budget and council tax papers as a source of income. There were no budgets or allocations for new leisure facilities. There were no budgets or allocations for improving and expanding the station car park.
For Frodsham residents the council tax raised from us is made of 4 components. The largest 'chunk' is the Council Tax raised by CWaC. In addition to that we pay council tax to the Police and Crime Commissioner, The Fire Authority and Frodsham Town Council. In other places there is a 5th share called 'special expenses.' Special expenses try to iron out the double taxation inequality caused by a town or parish council providing a service, which elsewhere is provided by CWaC. The special expenses figure for Frodsham is £0 so we can largely ignore it.
The following pie chart shows who gets what. All figures quoted are for a Band D home. I explain how you work out your council tax if you are not a Band D payer later. The proportion of council tax taken by each authority is the same no matter which council tax band your home is in.
Cheshire West and Chester Council over the years
Now seeing who is going to take what from us in 2018-19 year is only part of the story. How have things changed over the years? Let's look at CWaC first. The stark difference between financial prudence and innovation of a Conservative controlled council and the inefficiencies of a tax and spend Labour council couldn't be clearer.This chart shows how the CWaC council tax has changed since the council was created on 1 April 2009.
Under the Conservatives over 7 budgets the CWaC element of the council tax barely changed. And if you take account of inflation the effect of this approach was a real terms reduction of 14%.
Under Labour the council tax paid by a Band D tax payer to CWaC has gone from £1,267.92 to £1,444.95 - an increase of £177.03 or a 14% increase in actual terms.
This next chart shows the percentage change in the council tax charged by CWaC since 2010. Under the Conservatives the tax rises (when they occurred were modest) and in several years the council tax did not rise, and in one year it was reduced.
The 3 recent years of Labour control are in stark contrast to the 7 years where the level of council tax charged changed little. In the 3 years of Labour control the council tax has risen by more than 4% twice and this year by more than 5%.
The council tax for Cheshire Police over the years
Its also worth looking at how the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Fire Authority and FTC have performed over the years too. This chart shows the council tax paid for the police since 2013. Prior to the 2014-15 budget the police budget was set by the Police Authority. The Police Authority was made up of councillors from all four Cheshire Councils (CWaC, Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington) and independent appointed members. The Police Authority was not under political control. Those arrangements were replaced with the directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners ('PCC'). The first PCC set budget was that for 2014-15.
Cheshire Fire Authority over the years
Cheshire Fire authority's performance over the years is shown in this chart. The effect of Labour taking control in May 2011 (after the budget for the 11-12 year was set) couldn't be clearer. The Labour controlled authority simply maximises the increases in council tax it can make without triggering a referendum - hence the somewhat 'steady' inexorable progression upwards.
This graph shows the percentage rises to the Fire Authority's council tax from 2010. The chart shows the council tax remaining static between 2010-11 and 2011-12 under Conservative control and then rising at just under 2% for the remaining years, other than this year when the rise is just under 3%.
Frodsham Town Council over the years
Over the year's FTC's council tax take has become more significant - it is catching up with the money paid in council tax to the Fire Authority.
The percentage changes chart is quite astonishing and needs some further explanation.
This graph shows two very significant spikes. The first for the 2012 budget with a rise of 27.56% and the second in 2016 with a rise of 51.54%.
Now the rise in 2012 was a technical rise which no-one in Frodsham felt. This was the year that CWaC introduced special expenses (which weren't being levied in Frodsham). This meant that CWaC's council tax in Frodsham fell by around £8. FTC raised its council tax by effectively the same amount - so that, in total there was no more council tax to pay. This change effectively transferred resources from CWaC to FTC without hitting the Frodsham Council tax payer. You can see how this change did not impact Frodsham council tax payers by looking at the next two charts where the total council tax taken in 2012-13 was almost identical to the tax taken in 2011-12 and the percentage rise overall that year was less than 0.2%.
FTC's council tax did not rise again until 2016 when the astonishing near 52% council tax rise was imposed. The percentage rise was so great that it made national news and led to national discussions as to whether Town and Parish Council tax setting should be subject to same referendum limits that apply to everyone else entitled to raise council tax.
Part of that rise was caused by CWaC Labour removing new homes bonus payments from Frodsham Town Council. The effect of CWaC Labour's decisions led to Frodsham residents having the highest council tax rise anywhere in the Borough that year.
What we've had to pay in total over the years
So putting all these charts together and looking at the total council tax we pay to CWaC, the PCC, the Fire Authority and FTC over the years we get this:
The chart shows how stable to total council tax taken was from 2010-2015 and how rapidly it has risen since then.
Thiis next chart confirms this as shows the percentatge change in council tax over the years for Frodsham residents taking account of all the council tax we pay to each of the four organisations.
What this chart shows is that in two of the last three years Frodsham council tax payers have faced rises of over 5% and when taking the three years as a whole the rises we have had to pay have amount to nearly 15% - and this at a time when inflation remains low.
If you are not a Band D council tax payer.
All these charts are based on being a Band D tax payer. The amounts of money people pay change depending on the band their home is in. That said the proportions remain the same so all the charts and graphs would look the same - just with different cash amounts.
The council tax system is all based on ninths and uses what a Band D tax payer pays as its base. At the risk of stating the obvious a Band D payer pays 9/9ths of the Band D tax set by the council.
So taking the Band D figure as the base a Band A council tax payer, pays 6/9ths - or 2/3rds of the amount a Band D payer pays. The corresponding figures are Band B pays 7/9ths, Band C 8/9ths, Band E 11/9ths, Band F 13/9ths, Band G 15/9ths and Band H 18/9ths or double what a Band D tax payer pays.
In addition to the banding there are a number of discounts and exemptions that may apply. When you get your council tax bill through the post in the next few days you will find details of how to apply for any of the relevant discounts or exemptions.