EARLIER this year we posed the question why do our council tax bills go up and up and the services we get for our money go down and down?

We got no answer. We did get the Chief Constable telling us all that he has to find "efficiency savings" and cut his budget, a measure which will lead to the existence of Craven being a division of North Yorkshire Police as a mere memory.

Now comes dire warnings that next year there will be less money to spend on services.

North Yorkshire has announced that it is going to ask local people if they want to pay more council tax to maintain the services which have built up over the years. We haven't seen any details yet but it conjures images of our councillors standing on the streets yelling: "Anyone want their roads gritted, a bargain at just £10 - look after our elderly folk, give us £20 or they're out on the street".

Our councillors have done an excellent job making efficiencies but they are down to the bone. Efficiency savings eventually end in withdrawing services entirely.

Again we ask central government: Why do our council tax bills always rise by well above the cost of inflation and why do we always receive back the withdrawal of services?

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.