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Lewes council tax

4
 
On 8 Mar 2021 at 9:49am Formerly AC-T wrote:
We now pay the 4th highest council tax in the country. If my memory is accurate, that's up one place from last year when we only had the 5th highest council tax.
I can't think of any reason why the council tax should be so much higher than in other rural districts. We have some significant areas of deprivation, but so does Wealden. It's more expensive to deliver services in a sparsely populated area, but Wealden is even more sparsely populated.
Could it just be that LDC aren't very good at managing the money?
I'm intrigued.

Check it out here »
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On 8 Mar 2021 at 11:34am Nevillman wrote:
Thank you for that Formerly. It is particularly galling when you compare it with Westminster. Does anyone know if anyone on the council has tried to justify it?
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On 8 Mar 2021 at 8:06pm Formerly AC-T wrote:
I don't, @Nevillman.
Central government has cut the grant to local government every year for a few years now, putting more costs onto the council taxpayer, but that's the same for all councils. Most of the money goes to ESCC, as they deliver the most expensive services (education and adult social care), but the county precept is the same across the whole of East Sussex.
I'm at a loss to see why it is so much higher here than in the neighbouring district. I suppose it may be that Wealden has more properties in the higher bands or something. But they certainly seem to get better services than we do, and pay less for them.
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On 8 Mar 2021 at 9:54pm oldbutintouch wrote:
Maybe we’re subsidising our new masters in Eastbourne! Looking on the bright side, LDC refuse collection is still the best in the south, well done, chaps.
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On 10 Mar 2021 at 11:05am The Old Mayor wrote:
Just how many councils are we feeding ?
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On 10 Mar 2021 at 3:30pm Formerly AC-T wrote:
Is it really the best refuse collection service in the SE? I have family members who live in areas where the council will collect bulky items, like old furniture, for free and which supply wheelie bins free of charge.
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On 11 Mar 2021 at 7:00pm Hyena wrote:
Wait till they introduce booking slots for the household recycling centre.
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On 12 Mar 2021 at 4:20pm Formerly AC-T wrote:
Lol, you'd have to book 2 weeks in advance, it gets that busy.
It's much worse at weekends since they started closing so early that people can't go after work.
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On 7 Apr 2021 at 8:31am Clarity wrote:
Ask for a breakdown of salaries. Salaries are awarded on the basis of responsibility, ie how many employees that the Town Clerk, Chief Exec of District/County Council is responsible for.
Your elected councillors are supposed to scrutinise expenditure, how many of them understand how to do this?
They also approve the appointment of those running the councils.
How many facilities that run at your expense are essential, and are the essential ones well run?
Freedom of information requests can be useful. You should be receiving an annual breakdown of council expenses.
 
 
On 1 Sep 2021 at 10:27am Clarity wrote:
The income to the Town Council should not be far short of £1M annually and it is separate from the District and County Council tax. The TCs' salary will be over £60K. this as referred to above is set according to the number of employees that he has taken on and the council has approved. The Town Clerk does not live in the town or district. Many of the decisions taken by the town council are taken under guidance by the Town Clerk. Many of those on the town council are not required to understand how to read a set of accounts, their introduction to the business of the council is under the guidance of the Town Clerk. The Town Clerk should be due to retire shortly.


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