Council needs maths rethink over 0% claim (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Council needs maths rethink over 0% claim

3:30pm Thursday 19th April 2012 in Letters

Perusing the council’s Your Wiltshire magazine that was recently put through my door, I was intrigued to see that council leader Jane Scott states that “council tax has been frozen at 0 per cent for the third year running”.

Poor wording aside (I think she means that “council tax increase has been frozen, etc”), this statement is not true, well not in the case of Band E houses anyway.

For the year 2010/11, our council tax increased by 2.0 per cent on the previous year.

For the year 2011/12, our council tax decreased by 0.1 per cent on the previous year. For the year 2012/13 our council tax increased by 0 per cent on the previous year.

By my calculation and, in Jane Scott speak, our council tax has been “frozen at 0.0 per cent for the second year running” unless, of course, the council has already decided to leave council tax unchanged for 2013/14 which really would then make it “three years running”.

Neil Montgomery, Staverton Road, Trowbridge.