Once again I find myself writing to you following the receipt of my council tax bill for the next year.

An increase overall of 14.4% this time, on top of all the huge increases in recent years, when is this outrage going to stop?

Do our councillors live in a parallel universe to the rest of us, and do we ratepayers have 'mug me' written on our foreheads?

To recap, over the last five years my own council tax has risen as follows:

Herefordshire Council +57.2%;

Parish Share -19.3%;

Police +123.3%;

Total overall increase +61.25%

No wonder the firemen want a 40% pay rise. By these standards they are selling themselves short.

My letter which you printed last year drew a response from the council, which claimed Herefordshire's rate was one of the lowest in the Midlands.

Does that mean that we've got much larger increases to come through to bring us into line with all the other mad 'regimes'?

I count myself as fortunate in that I am in employment, and can afford this increase as unfair as it is, but what about those on fixed incomes like our pensioners? Who thinks of them when applying these rates? How do they afford to keep our council in the lap of luxury? Presumably they have to go without themselves.

After all, for someone who currently pays a £1000 a year council tax, if this trend continues, then in five year's time, it could be £1612, or put another way, an extra £51 per month.

Will you be a pensioner by then, if so, that's probably your car or holiday gone.

Finally, in fairness to Herefordshire Council, this year's fiasco is not entirely of their making, central government have penalised us for being southerners.

Remember that at the next general election.

Peter W. Loveday

Greggs House, Collington.