Shropshire residents are facing a council tax rise of nine per cent - how did the council get here?
The mood music from Westminster had suggested that the Labour Government was in no mind to allow councils to increase council tax by more than the 4.99 per cent normally permitted.
So it is perhaps a reflection of the severity of the situation Shropshire Council finds itself in that it has emerged the authority will now be permitted to raise council tax by as much as nine per cent.
That level of rise is unprecedented for Shropshire's upper tier council, and will leave households paying significantly more on the largest council bill affecting their monthly budget.
The council's leadership still needs to decide whether to go ahead with the rise, but having asked the Government for permission to do it - and having been given the go ahead - it would seem a waste of everyone's time not to press ahead.
In the background to the increase is the increasingly perilous state of the council's finances.
The Liberal Democrat administration, which took over in May last year after a comprehensive rout of the previously Conservative-run council, has been growing steadily more alarmed at the developing situation.
First it declared a 'financial emergency'. That has been followed up by requests to the Government for 'exceptional financial support' amounting to around £200m of loans to avoid potential 'bankruptcy', along with the request for permission to raise council tax.
In the midst of this the already-struggling authority was hit with the disappointment of the local government settlement from Westminster, which will see the Government reduce funding for the authority in the coming years, while neighbouring Telford & Wrekin Council sees its settlement go up.
