Should taxpayers have the chance to vote on council budgets?

Today's revelation that the UK government is looking to give local taxpayers the opportunity to vote on above average council tax rises in the UK is certainly a very different approach to the subject but is it workable?

On one hand there is no doubt that councils and other local authority should be more accountable to local taxpayers but on the other hand surely we vote in a council to do a particular "job". The time and expense of referendums, to agree or disagree about council tax rises above the level of the retail price index, may well impact upon the provision of local services themselves. So would you prefer to vote upon your council tax rise for next year?

While there is obviously demand from taxpayers to have some form of input with regards to local council tax, do we really need a referendum each and every time our local council increases council taxes above and beyond the retail price index?

If you replicate the cost of a potential referendum each year across the councils of the UK then potentially we could end up spending millions of pounds of hard-earned money on nothing more than "window arranging".