IT’S that wonderful time of year when local authorities up and down the country are deciding just how much to put our council tax bills up by.

With rises nearing five per cent on the cards across the board in Gwent, it’s clear we’re all going to be rooting around the back of our sofas for spare change come April - again.

Just be glad you don’t live in Pembrokeshire, where an eye-watering increase of 12.5 per cent is on the cards.

On the one hand it’s clear the cash to fund schools, roads, social services and everything else council tax pays for has to come from somewhere.

And both the UK and Welsh Governments are hardly making it easy for councils with repeated budget cuts.

But at the same time it’s hard not to wonder why bills keep going up year after year after year when we’re not getting anything extra for our cash.

In fact in most cases we’re seeing cuts to services across the board.

People in Newport are likely to see their bills go up by nearly five per cent in April, while the council closes all its public toilets and makes a series of cuts to vital services.

Surely this isn’t how it’s supposed to work?

Councils aren’t entirely to blame for this - the cuts in funding from Westminster and Cardiff Bay have been well-documented.

Every authority will also tell you council tax makes up only a portion of its funding, so a five per cent increase in rates doesn’t equal a five per cent increase in overall funding.

And spend any time at any council headquarters and it’s clear they’re clinging on by their fingernails, squeezing every penny for everything it’s worth just to keep the lights on.

But they’re not blameless either.

It simply doesn’t make sense that we’re forking over more but getting less for our money.

How long can this continue? Will we see rates go up by five per cent every year until the end of time, while services are slashed until only one child per 100 can go to school while elderly people are simply left to wither away?

I don’t have the answer, but sadly it doesn’t seem like most councils do either.

As we’re so often reminded, the magic money tree doesn’t exist. Unfortunately.

Maybe the massive overhaul of councils in Wales we’ve been threatened with for as long as anyone can remember is the answer.

Or maybe a reduction in the number of councillors - just what Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council is considering this week - is the way forward.

But, as attractive as the idea of fewer politicians might be to some of us, is having fewer people representing us really a good idea?

Someone smarter than me needs to come up with a solution, and fast.

- It’s half term, which for some reason means the Assembly gets the week off too.

I’ve never been able to establish the reason for these breaks in Assembly proceedings.

It’s not like Welsh Government staff stop work. And AMs are still doing all their usual constituency work.

But for some reason the actual work of the Assembly and committees is on hold while the kids are off school.

Parliament does the same thing, with MPs getting last week off for some reason.

Like most things in politics, it doesn’t make too much sense.

It’s almost enough to make you wonder what exactly our taxes are paying for.

Almost.