“A racist clone. I really hope this isn't a nasty Labour attempt to discredit me. Those racist views are unacceptable in a modern liberal democracy. I have reported that post and I hope that it is removed. If you do remove that post please remove this one as well which is in reply to the racist using my name.”

“Cant help but thinking that our majority ethnic run council has decided that their is no point in raising the council tax to excess as most inhabitants of the borough of Croydon are now ethnic minority single parent families of knife carrying mugging black youths who tend to cream as much of the social as they can anyway.”

“"One thing that hasn't been cut is the standard "allowance" paid to councillors - £11880 per annum - the highest in London if not the entire country. The London average is £9852, and the lowest is £7498, paid to councillors in Brent"
Croydon is the biggest London Borough so you would expect its councillors to get paid more as they have a bigger area to run and thus more work to do. Croydon also offers much better value for money than the very badly run Brent council (who get far more money from the government)

"I've noticed that since all these cuts started coming in, Council services have declined.
Money doesn't get spent, faults don't get fixed, streets aren't cleaned properly and things that used to be done quickly now take a lot longer."
Labour govt inspectors (who are biased against Tory Council's) have said otherwise, they have said that the quality of service that people in Croydon get has very much improved simce 2006 (when the tories took over) the streets look alot cleaner than they did before 2006. There is less grafiti and I feel safer in the town centre and in other district centre's.”

“Cut waste, extravagance and costs - no problem with that.

However, I've noticed that since all these cuts started coming in, Council services have declined.

Money doesn't get spent, faults don't get fixed, streets aren't cleaned properly and things that used to be done quickly now take a lot longer.

I'd rather pay a little bit more for a quality service than have a 0.8% rise for a comparatively rubbish one.

One thing that hasn't been cut is the standard "allowance" paid to councillors - £11880 per annum - the highest in London if not the entire country. The London average is £9852, and the lowest is £7498, paid to councillors in Brent. Why is democracy so expensive in Croydon?”

“Sarah is quite right. Labour held a referendum on council tax. Almost everyone voted to keep the increase low. So after the election they put it up by 27%. The Conservative Council have kept council tax as low as possible. This has been possible through efficiency savings, as david said "We all know that council services are inefficient and have too many layers. I'm sure plenty can be cut without anyone actually noticing a change in service." Quite right, this is exactly what the Conservative Council has been doing. There is still alot of hard work to come, in the future we can look forward to 0% rises and possibly decreases in council tax. This would not be possible under a Labour Council who would put council tax up by at least 27% to pay for all the promises they have made but can't afford.”

“We all know that council services are inefficient and have too many layers. I'm sure plenty can be cut without anyone actually noticing a change in service. If they could bring the pensions in line with the private sector we could even see reductions in council tax - I'm not getting my hopes up though...”

“Quite right to keep the rise as low as possible in a recession.

Daniel- Compare to the legendary Labour 27% increase just AFTER an election!”

“1) They did clear the roads of snow.
2) Every time I report a pot hole, they come and repair it. If you can't be bothered to report them, that's your own look-out.
3) Congratulations, Mike Fisher. I shall vote for you!!”

“£12 increase - great. Ive just burst a car tyre on a pot hole.

How much has the council tax gone up in recent years?

Why are these Tories raising my tax when they could not even clear the roads of snow?”

“Just before the election! What a coincidence!

And yeah, more cuts on the way. As if they haven't cut enough already.”