The council rates bill

arrived last week.
It has been sitting there smiling malevolently at us ever since. It does not need to be paid until mid-September so I am tempted to ignore it completely.
   "What," the Senior Cat asked me, "Do we get for our council rates?"
It's a good question. Today is "bin" day. The council vehicle will come past and pick up our general waste. Two other people use our bin because, between us, we have so little general waste that it can all go in one bin.  This week is also "green (garden waste) bin" and another unit will come by and pick that up. We don't always put that bin out by any means. Most of our garden waste goes back into compost.
I said this. 
   "Mm...and I suppose the street sweeper came the other day," the Senior Cat said. 
    "Yes but M....(our neighbour) had swept everything up the day before."
    "And they water the tree occasionally."
    "I kept the poor thing watered right through the summer," I growled. Our entire street kept the trees alive over summer.
I thought about it some more. The council is responsible for the footpaths. The one in front of our place is in a shocking state. Nothing has been done to it since my parents moved in back in 1984.  
Of course there are other things the local council is responsible for and of course they can sometimes do a good job of doing it. All the same it was difficult to work out what else the Senior Cat was getting in the way of services.
    "There's the library," I said - trying to be helpful here.
The Senior Cat thought about that and then said,
    "I suppose so."
I know what he means though. We use the library but then the library also uses me. I don't mind that because of the way I view libraries as a vital part of community services. 
     "And we used the dog catcher once," the Senior Cat said.
Yes, of course we did. I remember that very likeable little dachshund who followed the Senior Cat home once. We had to shut her in the laundry and wait for the dog catcher to come and collect her. Fortunately she was chipped and he could return her to her owner. 
Perhaps that makes it all worthwhile...but it is an expensive way to return a pet to her owner.