When cutting your spending doesn't reduce public expenditure

Here in Creeting St Peter, the Parish Council doesn't have vast responsibilities. Cutting the grass, lighting the streets, enabling planning consultation, that's about it. Accordingly, our precept is small, at around £40 per household. The money comes from our friends and neighbours, so we're fairly cautious about spending it.

However, we are now being invited to take on new commitments. For example, the County Council want to cut the amount they spend on subsidising bus services. Fair enough, you might think, until you realise that their preferred outcome is that Parish Councils take up the burden. As a parish councillor, I like to think of myself as being fairly knowledgable, but I've never sought tenders for a bus service.

Indeed, I wouldn't, as the idea of a dedicated bus service for a village of two hundred souls, virtually all of whom drive, is almost absurd. On the other hand, a bus service which links a cluster of villages to the nearest town is a different proposition. We could get involved in such a tendering process, but it would involve coordinating a number of parishes. Perhaps it might be better getting one tier of government responsible for managing services across the area to do that, like a county council, for example. You could describe it as an 'economy of scale'.

If a service is essential, or valuable, devolving it down to a lower tier of government does not save public money, it merely allows you to say that you've cut your spending, and makes no difference to the council tax payer. here in Mid Suffolk, my council tax is split four ways - county, district, parish and police authority. From my perspective, if expenditure is cut by 20%, I should reasonably expect to see my council tax bill cut by 20%, and I believe that most people would see it the same way.

However, all that appears to be happening is a passing of the buck. Central government cuts the rate support grant, but my income tax bill doesn't fall. The county council cut services, some of which are devolved to districts and parishes, but their slice of my council tax doesn't fall. The district and parish take on more responsibilities, but the precept increase is capped.

Yes, it's a huge over-simplification, but if you going to get less in the way of services, most ordinary people would expect to see council tax fall in actual terms, not just real terms. It won't...