HAVING read your article about the state of the city's CCTV cameras, I ask: what we are paying our council tax for?

One Saturday recently, another matter (albeit less important than the cameras) reinforced this view. I walked beside the river at about lunchtime and got very muddy because the council hadn't bothered to clean away all the mud left by the river overflowing its banks.

The river was right back down to its usual level by this time.

The council usually cleans up; why not this time? Is this another service to be hit because the council cannot manage its budget?

What are our taxes being used for? Paying for Mr Galloway and his chums to sit on their backsides and dream up new and inventive ways to further tax the citizens of York?

David Bryant,

Yarburgh Way, York.

Updated: 11:15 Tuesday, January 18, 2005