La contributión

We received the bill for our contributión  in the post this week and have until the end of November to pay it without a surcharge.

This is the equivalent of the council tax that we used to pay in UK,  we pay annually to Mecina Bombaron  the grand total of......     €12.20.  

All right, so we don't have a street light outside our front gate, but we have lots of stars to see by and there are street lights in Montenegro at the ermita (chapel) and for about 100 metres or so each direction. 

We have to take our rubbish down to the wheelie bins,  but everyone has to do that, nobody has their own bin,  and we just have a little further to go.  At least the bins are emptied alternate days - not alternate weeks!!

What else does the council provide?  Road maintenance?  Well, with the exception of this year's horrendous rainfall we have always had access and the road is cleaned  by a JCB every Spring after the winter rains.

There is now a fire station in Cadiar, not sure who funds that but they can use some of our €12 if they need! 

That's a little different to our old house, that's now rated at £1404 a year and I'm sure there are lots of people who pay far more than that.     At least when we get our bill here, there isn't a sharp intake of breath  ..........although we do say "how much?"