Citizen editor: Is asking the taxpayer to pay more for policing the right way to go Mr Surl?
ASKING the taxpayer to stump up more cash to fund the police force is a delicate one and a political hot potato to boot.
Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl wants to up the precept and claims the rise is less than a box of chocolates.
He also claims this is the equivalent of 30 officers on the beat but this is by no means what the money would be spent on.
However, it is not the amount necessarily but the principle of asking people to pay more when none of us really know what it will go towards.
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We understand there have been very real concerns in the past about the effect on frontline policing if the council tax precept did not rise – an issue we have covered.
And on the face of it, £3.99 over a year is nothing to remedy this but surely Mr Surl needs to take a longer look at all elements of the current budget and resources to see where any savings could be made to protect frontline services before asking the taxpayer to foot the bill?
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3 Comments
by IsitJimKerr
Thursday, January 31 2013, 11:38AM
“WILL COUNCIL TAX GO UP IF
I AM ELECTED?
The Gloucestershire Constabulary is funded in two
ways - from the tax you pay to the Government and
from your council tax. If the Government makes
further cuts to the police budget in Gloucestershire,
I have no plans to raise local taxes to plug that gap
and would only do so as a very last resort.
........so guess where this came from, MS's manifesto.
So he's been in the job five minutes, and wants more money..........hardly the 'very last resort'.
I seem to remember a Chief Constable a few years ago asked for a 'one off' payment.
Once this happens, it will be every year.
No Mr Surl, manage the budget as you said you would, that is in part why I voted for you.
Had all of the candidates offered, the outcome may well have been different.
AM I”
by a_calm_voice
Thursday, January 31 2013, 10:10AM
“Martin Surl should be congratulated for telling us the truth about public services. We'll only get what we're willing to pay for.
Politicians and newspaper editorial writers have been kidding us for decades by making out we can have good services but pay little tax. No wonder western governments have all racked up huge debts, we've been living in a "live now pay later" fantasy world since the 1980s. But "later" has at last arrived and now our services are suffering.
We'll all end up paying more if policing falls and crime rises due to budget cuts. Insurance premiums and private security charges will rocket and that will put the cost of everything up as shopkeepers pass on their extra costs to customers.”
by ShireMe
Thursday, January 31 2013, 8:07AM
“I would rather pay more tax at a local level than a national level. As far as I see it most of our national taxes are spent on these days:
- paying banks the interest on loans we took out to bail out Other banks
- bombing/ invading countries in part of the faux "war on terror" malarky
- MPs vanity projects
If Government is no longer spending the required amount on local services then where is the money supposed to come from? The articles baseless criticism of Mr Surl (how unspecific is the particular comment regarding frontline services?!) is completely misdirected. How about aiming some criticism at the folk that are endangering those services... The government itself?”