MUCH as Ribble Valley Council has benefited from extra government grants, many people, I think, will be struck by the difference in its increase in council tax -- at 3.27 per cent, one of the lowest rises in the country -- and the thumping 9.46 per cent extra the county council is seeking.
It may be that when County Hall went begging for more money from the government, it ended up with the amount it had been expecting actually being cut by £1.3million
But had it not been trimmed, the county's council tax would still have gone up by a way-above-inflation 9.16 per cent. And if, as we are told, Ribble Valley has kept its increase much nearer to the mark by planning its services in line with inflation, why could not Lancashire do the same?
Another telling measure of the county council's financial management will surely be had later this week when independent Blackburn with Darwen's new council tax is glimpsed and we see whether, in view of it, too, having had its allocation of government money cut, it is greater than last year's modest 4.5 per cent rise.
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