THE present council's arrogance is only matched by its incompetence - it is indeed a joke.

So we council tax payers are now expected to fund commercial services director Mr Finnegan's "retirement" without any knowledge of the reasons for his suspension, or the amount of "pay off" involved ("Anger As Chief Retires Early", October 3).

I see no reason at all why we should.

The one councillor who objected is sworn to secrecy. If they expect us to keep paying our council taxes, then we must be told the exact details. If not, then perhaps we should consider withholding our payments until we are advised.

The situation is not acceptable and is totally undemocratic.

When the next opportunity arises, this administration should be voted out.

The car parking charges farce; the missing £15,000 (has it been traced yet?); followed by this terrible mess leaves me feeling that we have simply had enough and are all paying quite sufficient council tax as it is.

If anyone has similar feelings, please write to the Evening Press - soon.

Richard Webster,

Grassholme,

Woodthorpe,

York.

Updated: 10:37 Monday, October 10, 2005