I WAS reading the Wisbech Standard today and was quite pleased to see that Fenland District Council, according to the article on page 26, was a council tax rise below inflation at 3.9 per cent, as I thought I read in last week s paper that it was nearer f

I WAS reading the Wisbech Standard today and was quite pleased to see that Fenland District Council, according to the article on page 26, was a council tax rise below inflation at 3.9 per cent, as I thought I read in last week's paper that it was nearer five per cent.

However, in the same paper on page 64 the Fenland District Council notice of council tax for 2008/2009 shows all the bands, parishes and new prices to pay, but based on this the rise is not 3.9 per cent at all for us in Whittlesey and works out to be 4.9 per cent (below inflation?)

Do councils think that we are idiots quoting something that simply is not true or is the article quoting 3.9 per cent an error that needs to be corrected?

MRS DEBBIE PALMER

Via E-mail

Reply from the council:

It is due to the Council Tax Bill being made up of a number of different organisations' elements of the council tax rise.

The total bill an individual pays is made up of: county council - over 80% of the bill - Fenland, Cambridgeshire Police, Cambs Fire and the town or parish element.

All raise their bit by an individually set increase.

For 2008/09 the following happened for Band D payers -

county council - increased its bill by 5% to £979.11; Fenland - by 3.9% to £225.90; Cambridgeshire Police - by 5% to £156.87; Cambs Fire - by 4% to £54.45 town or parish - by (on average depending on where you live) 7.6% to £19.95.

This all leads to an "average" increase of 4.8% in total to everyone's bill.

We try to make the point that the bill we send out covers all of these other organisations and we are only "responsible" for our bit. This is going up by only 3.9% - the lowest percentage increase.