Bristol Council consultation

It is a well-known story that in former days the labour-controlled Bristol council gave city residents the chance to vote on whether there should be an increase in council tax to pay for more services - or not. To the surprise of the concil, 61% opted to pay less council tax, and have less services. This preference never translated into action because the results were seen as inconclusive.

Bristol council recently sent council tax payers a "consultation" document in full colour that said the council tax increase has been kept to "only 3.5%" and then proceeded to ask what services we would like to change or improve. There was no option to say what services we would like to stop paying for.

There were lots of smiling faces, although I'm not sure this would have helped the reader evaluate how well the money was spent. There was a breakdown of financial outlay into the various areas - education, etc; but nothing on how much was spent on salaries or administering the services provided. The form on the back page with three fields again asking how to improve or change the services: nothing about cutting council tax. Thank you Bristol Council: I know that my council tax has been well-spent on this document and I am glad that it will be used for you to say in council chamber how democratic you are. Keep spending the money; and while you're at, keep paying yourselves very high salaries: you're worth it.