Billy Liar Pants on Fire

[DRiddle]

http://www.itv.com/news/2016-01-21/many-households-to-face-4-rise-in-council-tax/

Why do I get the feeling a wider national audience might soon pick up on the issue of the wasted £6 million?

A Tory leaning national newspaper would jump all over it if they got wind of it.

[steveL]

Notice that at £55, Hartlepool comes out the highest. That's what happens when your starting point is the 3rd highest to begin with - they won't be happy till they hit that No. 1 Spot.

We'll also remain as the highest taxed town in Teesside which isn't going to go down well as more and more services are focussed on lower taxed Middlesbrough.

[ashamedtobebritish]

You only have to walk into the Civic Centre to see they have stripped front line services to an almost non existant level, whilst keeping the "boys upstairs" relitevely safe from cutbacks.

What's astounding to see is that Hartlepool Borough Council are expecting people to swallow a 4% increase without questions being asked as to why this has happened, the idea of cutting back is to make sure that at the end of the financial year, you are in a better position to deliver services to the public, in much the same way a private company would restructure to ensure that efficiancies are maintained and the business overall runs more smoothly.

Hartlepool Borough Council now looks like a cart without the horses, theres nothing left at all, the money must be going somewhere and its not being put into the places it was ment for, which means its being pocketed by the people its not ment for, we are now looking at a seriously "top heavy" Local Authority which in my opinion is about a year away from bankruptsy, the people entrusted with the public purse have abused their positions to fund their own projects and expected the people of Hartlepool to fund the losses with their own money.

There was £1,000,000 spent on the Jacksons Landing for reasons I cannot begin to fathom

There was £400,000 spent on a cafe which is continuing to loose money, so good they wont even publish the accounts.

Sometimes I just wonder how corrupt councils have to be before Whitehall says enough is enough and they begin an enquiry.

I for one will be asking the question if these idiots never release their grip on the council come polling day, one has to wonder if the electoral system in Hartlepool isnt rigged, because it just cannot go on like this any longer.

A merger with Teesside will mearly hide the councils financial losses from the public and give them a bigger trough to put their snouts in Labour and tax payers money is a dangerous combination.

[DRiddle]

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/hartlepool-council-tax-not-among-the-highest-says-leader-1-7689521

First class spin.

Looks like we're now using a different measure to rank our council tax rates to the rest of the country.

[steveL]

9th Highest Over all 326 authorities; 3rd highest Unitary Authority.

Worth pointing out that even though Band 'D' tends to be the figure always quoted, the other Bands are all fixed fractional multipliers of the Band 'D' rate - the Band 'A' rate, for example, will always be 6/9 of the band 'D' rate. So if the Band 'D' rate is, say, the 9th highest, then the Band 'A' rate will always be the 9th highest Band 'A' rate - the same is true of all of the other Bands.

[Hartlepudlion]

This looks like this year's figures.

With the 3.9% rise I make this to be £1764.22pa from April. Then you have to add the Fire and Police precepts to reach the final figure.

[mk1]

The Mail have dropped the story from the front page since late this afternoon. I suppose the deluge of negative comments prompted a phone call from the Kremlin to bury it.


http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/hartlepool-council-tax-not-among-the-highest-says-leader-1-7689521

[DRiddle]

Dear Christopher and Stephen,

We all know you read these comments. You also know I'm a school teacher.  I'm not a maths teacher, but allow me to help you get your head around why people are so annoyed with your claim that 'average council tax is low'.

Imagine there are 10 people who all have a job (Try hard Stephen).

Imagine 9 of the 10 people earn just £10,000 per year in wages. But the 10th person earns £150,000 per year in wages.

Are you keeping up?

So that's ten people who in total earn £240,000 in wages between them.

(9 x £10,000) + £150,000 = £240,000

So, imagine now if you divide the £240,000 total between 10.

I'll do the sum for you. £240,000 divided by 10, is £24,000.

Now then, if I were to be stupid enough to make a public statement claiming "Average wages are actually not too bad. I did a calculation and the average wage is £24,000", what do you think would happen?

I'll tell you what would happen. The 9 people who only earn £10,000 would jump up and down and be angry. They'd call me an idiot/liar/cheat/trickster/con man because it was obvious to anyone the high wage of the ONE person was significantly affecting the average of the ten.

This 'trick' is essentially the same 'trick' you've been stupid enough to try to claim about council tax.

(It just involves a far bigger number than 10, and a reverse of the 'loading of the deck').

Some people are obviously not as bright as others. I dare say there are a few people who might even fall for yesterdays spin. However, there didn't appear to be TOO many of those people expressing their views via The Mail, on here, on facebook or on wider social media.

The vast majority of people who read yesterdays article saw through the spin and I dare say will not be voting for you or the Labour group in May partly because of it.

I don't know who in the Labour group came up with the idea to put out that press release and try to hoodwink the public in such a crass and obvious way.

But could you tell me please? Putting Hartlepool First (and I imagine UKIP) would like to send them a thank you card.

Keep up the 'good' work in your election campaign.

Kind regards

David

[Stationario]

Brave man David. I hope your simple logic and explanation doesn't incur the wrath of certain people who will try and make your life even more difficult

[DRiddle]

To be honest I don't care if they do try to make my life difficult. I'm fortunate enough to be in a good place in my life. Steady job, happy family, my little boy, a good network of friends and family around me.

The 'worst' they can do is take my seat from me in 2018 (that's assuming of course I opt to defend it).

Even if I did lose the seat, there's far more to my life than creeping around the halls of the civic centre like Marley's ghost, haunting council officers and attempting to find ways to line my own pockets.

I suppose they could always charge across the floor of the council chamber and try to hit me.

But then realistically, how likely is that?

[steveL]

Could be wrong but I reckon The Mail reprinted this word for word

HBC Press Release

Published Friday, 22nd January 2016

CIVIC leaders in Hartlepool have spoken out to dispel the myth that the town has one of the highest levels of Council Tax in the country.

It comes as the Council grapples with swingeing cuts in Government funding and other major financial pressures.

Figures published in a recent Council financial report show that when it comes to the average level of Council Tax per property. Hartlepool ranks 271 out of 326 local authority areas during 2015/16 - making it the 55th lowest average council tax in the country.

National Council Tax comparisons are normally made at Band D as it is viewed as the average band, but the large majority of Hartlepool properties (almost 87%) fall into the lowest bands (A, B and C), with just 7% in Band D.

Councillor Christopher Akers-Belcher, the Leader of Hartlepool Council, said: "It is very confusing to people and misleading to make Council Tax comparisons at Band D because the vast majority of Hartlepool residents are in the lower bands.

"It is much fairer and more accurate to compare what people actually pay and when you do this Hartlepool is the 55th lowest out of 326 councils in the country – the highest being Elmbridge in Surrey and the lowest the London Borough of Wandsworth."

The amount of grant which the Government is going to give local councils including Hartlepool for 2016/17 assumes that the councils will increase the level of Council Tax by 3.9%. 2% of this covers the cost of social care – the responsibility for which the Government has shifted from itself and onto councils.

The authority is still reeling from the announcement just before Christmas that it is to lose a further £2.1m in Government grant for 2016/17 – on top of the £2.8m reduction it was already anticipating.

The authority also has to cope with the loss of £3.8m in Business Rates every year following a recent decision by the Valuation Office Agency to reduce Business Rates paid by Hartlepool Power Station.

Hartlepool Council has frozen Council Tax for the last five years – the only Tees Valley council to do so – but the Government acknowledges that the era of Council Tax freezes are now over.

A 3.9% increase will result in the large majority of Hartlepool households (87% in Bands A, B and C) receiving an increase of 71p, 83p and 95p per week respectively. For the 96% of households receiving Local Council Tax Support, the increase will be no more than 10p per week.

Hartlepool Council will meet on 18 February to set its budget and Council Tax for 2016/17.

Press release PR16309   22 January 2016.
Issued by Alastair Rae, Public Relations Manager, on 01429 523510.

[DRiddle]

http://www.hartlepoolpost.co.uk/article_billy%20liar%20pants%20on%20fire.htm

Why do I get the feeling this is going to come back to bite the council in the same way the initial peer review press release did?

Remember? it essentially praised HBC, when the reality was it was a very damning report.

The Mail have ran this and the public have reacted. They'll need to provide some balance and soon or they'll lose readers.

[Sanddancer]

How many more readers can The Hartlepool Mail actually lose?

[Inspector Knacker]

Frankly, I don't take any notice of what these people say anyway. It's the same old self justifying self pitying script of suposed victimhood. Their whining mantra revolves around government cuts ruining their vision of utopia where happiness reigns all year round and the sun never stops shining. If the day came when there wasn't a mantra of cuts to chunter about, I'd love to see what happens then. I'd be interested to see their reaction if we had a Labour government too, doubtless some convoluted formula would emerge from their sterile logic to point the finger at soneone else. The government cuts line has become a crutch and moving on to become a moblity scooter for their version of events.
I also like how the wee man goes went on about privatised public transport but when in power for 13 years said very little about the subject , yet when in opposition hits out. Consistent ?

[steveL]

For the record, The council tax data produced by the Department of Communities and Local Government can be downloaded here:

http://www.hartlepoolpost.co.uk/files/2015_16_National_Council_Tax_Levels.xlsx