Households across Telford & Wrekin have received their new council tax bills with record increases in the amount they have to pay for increasingly poor services.
The average council tax precept from Telford & Wrekin Council will rise by 4.99%, an increase carefully calculated so that it doesn't reach the 5% threshold to hold a local referendum to ask voters whether they're happy to pay more.
The Labour administration has been coercing parish and town councils across the borough into taking on services that Telford & Wrekin Council have previously run to move the costs away from the borough council and help them hit their cost saving targets. Residents don't see any of these cost savings because the cost is passed on to their parish or town council instead.
Telford & Wrekin Council have handed responsibility of more than half of the libraries in the borough to parish and town councils and community groups by threatening them with permanent closure. Most are run by parish and town councils with support from community groups. If and when they are no longer viable it will be the parish or town council that was arm-twisted into taking it on that will be blamed for the closure.
The environmental maintenance service has been cut back to a bare minimum across the borough and the previous service offered at a cost to parish and town councils. Most have been forced to pay Telford & Wrekin Council tens of thousands a year to get back to how things were before the service was deliberately cut back to unacceptable levels.
Parish and town councils have been pressed to take responsibility for street lights on footpaths and communal areas or face having them switched off by Telford & Wrekin Council. This year, any parish or town council that hasn't voluntarily taken ownership of Telford & Wrekin Council's street lights is being punished with a "special fund" that has to be paid by their residents through their council tax. It was privately described by some Labour councillors as a "fine" for parish councils who won't take over street lights.
Because parish and town councils can increase their council tax precept by any amount without having to hold a local referendum it is easy to pass costs on to them - and then to residents - without having to worry about inconvenient things like having to convince residents that it's good value for money. And because most parish and town councils in Telford are controlled by Labour councillors, the Labour administration at Telford & Wrekin Council has little or no opposition from them.
The upshot of all this is that residents are effectively being doubly-taxed for services that Telford & Wrekin Council is obliged to provide but through coercion and bullying has forced parish and town councils to pay for and this year's council tax rises - some of them increasing by more than a quarter - show what the price of a Labour-run administration is for all of us.
