Local authorities have set their budgets and council tax increases have been approved.
The fallout makes grim reading for households, with figures climbing high above the rate of inflation.
In Angus, an eye-watering 11% increase has been imposed.
That is huge amount, yet the double digit figure is still not the steepest in the country so far – that award goes to Clackmannanshire at 13%.
In Dundee an 8% hike has been agreed, 8.2% in Fife, 8.8% for Stirling and a 9.5% rise in Perth and Kinross.
These are numbers that will worry many households who are already concerned about paying their other bills, with electricity and water charges also on the up.
Swinney at odds with SNP councils
That councils felt the need to burden their residents with these soaring costs is a concerning sign of a disconnect between local government and Holyrood.
In December, First Minister John Swinney said local authorities could drop their council tax hike plans as he was setting aside £15billion in the Scottish Government budget.
It sees the local authorities in our area benefitting from a lift of between 5.8% and 7.8% in funding.
However these words from the First Minister appear to have gone unheeded – even by the SNP administration of Mr Swinney’s own council area of Perth and Kinross.
And of course it’s also very possible that these drastic hikes are a legacy problem created by his own government.
There’s a fair argument to be made that the enormous increases seen this year are the result of council tax freezes and caps mandated by Holyrood.
Rates have been frozen for 12 of the last 18 years, dating back to 2007.
More money means more responsibility
Whatever the root cause of the tax increases, the focus now will be on what is being delivered for these extra charges.
Councillors have decided they are taking this additional money from people’s pockets so it is of utmost necessity that it’s spent wisely.
In agreeing these rises councils now have no excuse for cutting and reducing much needed services as has become all too common in recent years
But with this increase of the charge on residents, that is no longer enough.
Local authorities must now actively improve the cities and towns they represent.
In Angus, council leader Bill Duff said: “Our view is the public will pay to maintain the current level of services.”
With these soaring tax bills, the current level of service should be the baseline.
The ambition should be to build upon them.
If people are putting more in they should get more out, that’s the only way this extra burden will be justified to the people who pay it.
Funding must flow back into our schools and education system, our leisure facilities and cultural hubs.
Our cities need cleaned, litter picked, pavements and roads fixed and potholes banished to the past.
There needs to be markable benefit to residents for the extra cost they are footing.
With more money comes more responsibility.
And that responsibility falls on the shoulders of the council to deliver.
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