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Gov Compares10. November 2009 – 16:31 by Fraser Henderson - ICELE |
A new online service has been launched to let tax payers compare the prices of council services across a region in the U.K.
“Allerdalecompare.com” is an internet site which compares Allerdale Borough Council’s fees and charges with those of other district authorities in the county.
The website carries figures for council tax and charges for services and in the majority of these Allerdale Borough Council comes out (unsurprisingly) well against its neighbours.
By offering the comparison between the county’s six district authorities, allerdalecompare.com also highlights the wide variety of services provided to the public by their local councils; including cemeteries, pest control, bulky waste removal and stray dog collection.
Therefore residents can see for themselves where they get a lot of council services and pay less for them than other residents in the rest of Cumbria.
Perhaps this could be done on a European scale to compare European government spending?
Tags: inenglish
3 Responses to “Gov Compares”
By Anna Carola on Nov 10, 2009
That’s interesting. The aim of increasing transparency is very important, of course. But, I was wondering about possibile unintended and distorsive effects.
For example, what about the quality of the services delivered? What about the internal composition of the cost of the services? And what about the seize and the specific social contexts of the public to which local authorities have to deliver services? What about the mix of the services provided by each public authoritites?
So, cost isnt’ the only parameter of a good public performance (and citizen should be made more and more aware of this). Isn’t it?
By Fraser on Nov 22, 2009
Thanks, Anna…you’ve hit the nail on the head. When somebody asks me to switch utility company they always start with “how much are you currently paying?”. Far too often we put price above quality of service.