5 March - Newham first, Bromley second
So Bexley council claims to have the second lowest council tax in Outer London
due to some arithmetical fiddling with averages
which doesn’t actually reduce residents’ bills. Bromley council will beg to differ - see
extract from their website above. Bexley is at the top of the tree when it comes to deceptions
and far from being second lowest, we are still paying the ninth highest taxes in London. There’s
no getting away from that; assuming you are paying of course…
The amount of council tax outstanding in Bexley is nearly £18 million (FOI
response) which is half the Strategy 2014 savings. I personally doubt that
any of it will be owed by councillors but cannot be sure because
Bexley refused to say whether any had been sent reminders, let alone anything worse.
The Information Commissioner saw no reason for that refusal and
has given Bexley council 20 days to answer or they will get yet another decision
notice. A bit of me says information like that is barely worth having but all
the time Bexley council’s priority is to keep everyone in the dark about
relatively trivial matters one has to wonder why the culture of total secrecy is
pursued so relentlessly. Something much less trivial to be hidden perhaps?