Over the next few weeks councils across Scotland will set their council tax for the coming year.
This year they have complete freedom to put up the charge by whatever figure councillors agree.
As was the case last year, the Scottish government is making no attempt to freeze the charge or limit increases.
But the Scottish government had expressed a hope that there would be no large rises.
Scottish Borders is thought to be the first council to publicly propose a substantial rise this year – the 8.5% figure is more than 2.5 times the current rate of inflation.
A paper for councillors in West Lothian spelled out a number of possible options, including what a 10% rise might mean.
There is one basic question any council proposing such a rise must be prepared to answer: will local voters support it?
Will it help to avoid unpopular cuts to services or perhaps even lead to improvements or investment?
If voters do not back the rise, who will they blame? The council or the Scottish government which gives councils much of their cash?
If there are large rises across Scotland, this could well become an issue in May’s Holyrood elections.
The SNP promised to replace the council tax when it first came to power in Holyrood in 2007. The system has been modified but finding a workable alternative which everyone agrees on has been easier said than done.
However it can point to several years of freezes and limited increases.
