Now this is going to be one of those boring useful information blogs that doesn't contain the normal rib tickling, gut wrenching effortless voyages into whimsy and humour, and as such isn't really proper fair for a Friday morning. Obviously normal service will be resumed next week and there will be another mis-rendering of some much loved pop song to get you whistling along. But for the moment there's a little nugget of information that is worthy of note.

I went to a Parish Council meeting last night. These are fascinating little events, covering as they do the minutiae of local life. Your guaranteed long insightful debate on pot holes and you can be sure than someone will be fly tipping somewhere, the traffics going to fast and someone is trying to build an eyesore. All very wonderful, and for this you will find a small item on your council tax form marked Parish Council Stipend or some such similar and it's a small amount that covers the minimal costs of such organisations. Most of it goes in payments to the clerk, 3rd party insurance and the erection of the odd notice board or seat, and the budgets are carefully policed by people that know the value of a second class stamp.

This is all well and good, and is as it has been for sometime now. But there is something rather special about the stipend. It's not capped. All the other bits of your council tax are specified and feature in those terminally long arguments about how much more tax you do or don't pay to your council or the police.

This means that if the Council can shunt costs off to the Parish councils and only provide those organisations with funding for a part of the services like pot hole filling, hedge cutting and other bits and pieces then the parish councils will have to put up the stipend, and that's the nice bit for the Council there is no limit to how much.

In some ways it is relevant because people generally would like to see local money spent on local costs but one would hope that there would be a similar reduction in the main council tax loading as a result. But if you have any cynicism about local government the odds of them reducing the amount for you particular band is pretty low.

So do have a look, and see how much you pay now for those little meetings in drafty church halls it might be increasing soon and forewarned is forearmed.