Hi! I'm a journalism student at the University of Sheffield and i am doing a report for a project on the rise in council tax, a whopping 6.875%! What do you guys think about this?

Could you please post your views here with your name, age and where abouts in Sheffield you're from. If you dont want to give your age don't worry.

Alternatively e-mail your views to me at joa02rmd@shef.ac.uk :D [/b]

Have a look at the thread "Would you pay more council tax for better roads".

That should tell you what a lot of us think of Sheffield City Council.

Just got my bill I'm appaled my letter says 8.3% rise.
Last year it was 6.3%.

How can they justify this, I am an honest working person and they are just crippling us.
Tax on your income
Tax on your savings
Tax on your purchases
Tax on your cars
Tax on your fuel
Tax and Tax and Tax and more tax
I feel like packing it all in and claiming off the social

does anyone know the current counsil tax rate for a band a house in sheffield?

Band A - Up to and including 40,000 = £767.99

Yep, 8.34% rise in council tax against;
Retail Price Index of around 2.9%
Pay rises around 3 %
Nat Ins increase?
Pensions increase?

Good old Council getting on the ripoff Britain band waggon. :evil:

:cry: All this tax and they treat us like s__t.

Today 27 parents watched the saga of Lydgate school ending in an incredible climax in the Council Chambers, bringing shame to our city.
This is a massive management bungle, and an almost exact clone of the bungle only a few years ago. Unfortunately small children (aged 7) have to bear the brunt of this. Basically parents were promised that there would be guaranteed transfer from Lydgate infants to Lydgate Junior school. Because they got their numbers wrong, this promise is being broken. There are a lot of angry people out there. They have received nothing but abuse.

If our Labour Council fight against descrimination, racism and the usual evils of our society I can support them. But that is not what they are fighting for anymore. Today (2/4/03) in our great city council we observed the spectacle of Labour councillors voting to smash these parents who had been promised school places by the LEA, the Council and schools, in an action which was immoral and almost certainly illegal. We all watched with incredulity the complete circus which is our city council. Labour councillors joked and ate sweets while dispensing their injustice.

Our Labour council do not seem to posess enough concern about just and moral principles to realise that they are cutting the ground from under their own feet. Fighting against discrimination and for the "little people" seems to be a forgotten principle of this administration.

Lots of tax and plenty of abuse.

An ex Labour voter

Mark

With regards councillors and council tax, until we all start voting for the most competent person and their policies and stop blindly voting for the party then we will not get anywhere.

A lot of councillors get voted in purely because of the colour of their rosette as opposed to how good they are and what they will do.

Vote for the person and not the party and we would get more people willing to stand for election and a far better democratic system.

Originally posted by "JonHarrison"

A lot of councillors get voted in purely because of the colour of their rosette as opposed to how good they are and what they will do. Vote for the person and not the party and we would get more people willing to stand for election and a far better democratic system.

Wise words. However councillors themselves all seem to vote the same way way making decisions, even when they clearly don't believe what they are voting for. So why we need 80 instead of just two or three is a bit of a mystery. In the recent Lydgate scandal, the voting was precise (all Labour votes against parents, all Lib ems in favour) - amazing the concordance of views!

There are obviously a lot of angry and dissatisfied voters out there, particularly regarding the school fiasco. The main parties do all vote together. Policy is decided behind closed doors and the main council meeting is just a rubber stamping exercise (whoever is in control). Until more people stand as Independent candidates the pattern will remain forever. I am surprised that one of those angry parents did not stand as a candidate in the forth coming local elections. They would have scared the hell out of the main parties. It costs nothing, all you need are 10 local residents to sign your nomination form and Bob's your uncle. Of course it's too late now. Party interests will always come before the interests of the electorate for the main parties. :cry:

Once the democratic election of councillors is done then for all we are concerned we have given them our mandate to govern us. The only way we can complain is at the next election.

If you are unhappy, how many of us actually go to the councillors clinics? Get in there and be heard.

Does anyone know how many people in Sheffield default on their council tax, and where they are distributed accross the City?

Onyx paid the city council £40 million I think to take the contract for waste disposal. £40 million!!! So how can the council justify yet another rise? Just how much are we paying Council Chiefs Bob Kerslake and Peter Moore? Do you think they're good Value For Money?

Personally, and I realise that it is a very contentious point, but I would not like to be the boss of such a slack organization.

To make savings at the City Council you have to tighten up on management and get value for money from the workforce. With the stanglehold of the unions in the council I would not fancy such a task!

Value for money is something that I believe such an organisation will never be able to deliver.

Does anyone wonder why hardly no one votes on local elections these days.
The first thing any local government does in Sheffield is put up council tax then they blame the main government as an excuse.
The Libs and conservatives are no different which is why the Lib dems lasted one year and i don,t vote local government anymore because our voice makes no difference to what they do.

Originally posted by "JonHarrison"

If you are unhappy, how many of us actually go to the councillors clinics? Get in there and be heard.

When are these? The council (not surprisingly) seems very coy about telling people they can attend various meetings - I, for example, didn't realise members of the public could attend planning meetings until very recently.

Most councillors hold surgeries which are advertised in your local library.

Area panels meet for every area and the times are shown on the council website as are the minutes. Members of the public are welcome to attend the area panel meetings.

No, before you ask, I'm not a politician but I take an interest.

It seems to me that the council tax is to keep those who are on unemployment benefit/income support, or whatever they call it, to live comfortably - ie - pets, cars, socializing, etc. I, myself cannot afford such luxeries. I work full time, like many other people, just to keep these lazy b$%@ads, and all they can do is complain! I do have sympathy for the genuinally unemployed people. Council tax is a rip off. What is SCC doing for the working class of Sheffield? -- Answer - nothing!

Originally posted by "The Cycleracer"

Does anyone wonder why hardly no one votes on local elections these days.
The first thing any local government does in Sheffield is put up council tax then they blame the main government as an excuse.
.... i don,t vote local government anymore because our voice makes no difference to what they do.

This is a slippery slope. I come from a not very democratic third-world country. You HAVE to vote. If you don't like what is happening (I don't), vote for the opposition, whoever they are. If you like what's happening, vote for them that are doing it. I must say I find the Lib Dems marginally less slimy, and marginally more honest (right now anyway). Labour have really screwed things up in a big way. Lets not mention the £3000 bathroom basins our Mayor needs. Most of the Lib Dems can string two or three comprehensible sentences together. Choose one or two issues that really irk you, approach your local councillor, and ask what they plan to do to sort it out. If you believe that they will, vote for them. The reason Sheffield has the problems it has, is that people believe that what they need is ignored. Let them know what you think, and not only in the voting booth!

Originally posted by "Amazed14"


This is a slippery slope. I come from a not very democratic third-world country. You HAVE to vote. If you don't like what is happening (I don't), vote for the opposition, whoever they are. If you like what's happening, vote for them that are doing it. I must say I find the Lib Dems marginally less slimy, and marginally more honest (right now anyway). Labour have really screwed things up in a big way. Lets not mention the £3000 bathroom basins our Mayor needs. Most of the Lib Dems can string two or three comprehensible sentences together. Choose one or two issues that really irk you, approach your local councillor, and ask what they plan to do to sort it out. If you believe that they will, vote for them. The reason Sheffield has the problems it has, is that people believe that what they need is ignored. Let them know what you think, and not only in the voting booth!


Local elections Today!! Democracy in action.

Hi! I'm a journalism student at the University of Sheffield and i am doing a report for a project on the rise in council tax, a whopping 6.875%! What do you guys think about this?



Shows how times change! (this thread is from 2003), the 2009 rise don't seem too bad in comparison!