Big Council Tax increases and big cuts in services proposed by Wiltshire Council

The budget papers have been published here. Have a look and see what you think.

WC will increase Council Tax by 5%. This equates to £88 for a Band D property. Together with increases in Fire, Police and Parish precepts many households will see their rates increase by over £100.

As well as the tax increases, charges for council services will increase. There will be new charges for using the Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) for some materials, and their opening hours may be cut further. The cost of bulky waste collection from domestic properties will rise. There's bad news for people living in properties which are difficult to access as their waste and recycling collections will cease altogether.

Most fees and charges will see above-inflation rises. There are huge increases in pest control costs - wasps, fleas, carpet moths, squirrels and rabbits and cockroaches and bedbugs will all cost you up to 40% extra to have removed. There are rises of up to 25% for weddings and other ceremonies, though burials are hit less hard with increases of around 5%.

In order to sanitise the news the budget for communications will remain very high - Wiltshire Conservatives will spend one and a half million pounds of your money on spin and propaganda.

Wiltshire Lib Dems will be presenting alternative budget proposals to council - watch this space for details.

Business rates fact: Wiltshire raises £150million in business rates but is only allowed to keep £57m of that.

Council Tax fact: A 1% rise in CT equates to about £2.1million income for WC.