SO the council tax demands have arrived. Are they some form of joke or are you seriously expecting payment?
Apparently my council tax bill is 4.4 per cent higher, it must be, the demand says so! No it isn’t, it’s actually 10.6 per cent, so that’s not a small discrepancy, it’s misleading and dishonest.
A lot of it is due to the merger of Roundway and Devizes Town Council, something the electors haven’t voted on and which is an exceptional penalty that has been inflicted on pensioners such as us. 
With the State Pension increase at 2.5 per cent and no inflation element in private pensions, where will this money come from?
In addition we are paying an additional £90.39 for the adult social care levy, which frankly is an insult from this government. 
As pensioners most of us to some extent have additional costs and lower income in providing for ourselves, in addition my family legacy is reducing by £4.1k a month as my father is self-funding his care needs in a local care home.
Put bluntly, I accuse you all in various ways of merging these councils without clearly identifying the cost and putting it to your funders for their decision, or being fair to all parties by not loading the budget and then expecting us all to pay for it without question. 
Also of making short-term decisions that have a major negative impact financially on many like my wife and myself. 
Profligacy in general council spending, it seems everyone is far too comfortable and perhaps a real shake-up at local elections would help. 
Simon you called on my door recently, it seems Spending more than £300,000 on traffic lights to benefit a few drivers for around five hours a week is extravagance and we the tax payers can’t afford it, we’d like some pot-holes fixed instead. 
Money should come from car tax and fuel duty for such an endeavour.
I haven’t even started on the garden waste collection service increasing by 10 per cent since it was introduced. 
When the charge was introduced, did the council reduce council tax so those without a garden benefitted? No! 
Every loophole to fund inefficiency is being exploited and it’s time this government put a stop to it for good if you won’t do it for yourselves.
The council tax demand says: ‘Wiltshire Council – where everybody matters’. 
It’s not true!
PAUL T RAGGETT
Devizes