The council spends nearly as much on its new-look magazine as it cut from a much-missed bus service.
Bath and North East Somerset Council spends £36,000 a year on 'Together', its quarterly publication for residents.
The "new look and freshly named" magazine, the rebranded successor to 'Connect', was launched in March of this year.
Bath resident David Kernek was incredulous upon learning how much the local authority spends on its revamped periodical.
In response to his official request for information about the annual net cost to the council of producing and distributing the magazine, the council's Information Governance Team responded: "Our Communications and Marketing team have confirmed that 'Together' magazine costs £9,000 per issue.
Mr Kernek, who lives in Camden Road, wondered at the council's reasons for producing it when its belt-tightening measures had seen a community bus service disappear.
Last year, the council axed a £39,000 subsidy from the 6/7 bus loop linking Larkhall and Fairfield Park.
The service was subsequently split in two by operator First Bus, leaving the two neighbouring communities cut off from one another.
In a letter to the Bath Chronicle, Mr Kernek wrote: "At a time, then, when the council – along with others across Britain – says it is facing very serious and difficult financial decisions, it chooses to carry on spending £36,000 a year on a so-called 'information' publication that boasts of the ways in which it is 'connecting communities', [but] it cuts a £39,000 subsidy, thus disconnecting one half of a local community from the other half.
When asked by the Bath Chronicle to confirm what it spends on 'Together' and explain why it would fund a magazine but withdraw a bus subsidy, the council provided a long statement justifying the latter.
The statement, provided in full below, did not address the cost of the magazine or the reasons for its existence (although these were clarified in a later statement received after publication).
More than 100 people attended a meeting in November to protest the demise of the 6/7 bus loop, and more than 2,400 have signed a petition calling for the restoration of the subsidy and the linked route.
The new council member for transport, councillor Mark Shelford (Cons, Lyncombe), promised to take the 6/7 bus issue up with First Bus and the Metro Mayor.
A council spokesman said: "In May 2016, First made a commercial decision to review the 6 and 7 bus services as part of a review of their entire bus route network in Bath.
"They informed the council that it was not commercially viable to operate the services as circular routes and it was their intention to encourage the use of alternatives which remain popular amongst passengers.
"Information provided by First also showed that its new commercial route pattern offered a significant benefit to passengers along Camden Road by doubling the frequency of service.
"As a result, Bath & North East Somerset Council carried out on-bus surveys between June 14 and 20 on both services in order to assess the potential impact of the changes.
"We recorded a total of over 500 individual passenger journeys and we were able to note origin and destination for almost all passengers. This showed that over nine out of 10 passengers would not be adversely affected by the route change and a proportion would benefit from the increased frequency along one section.
"Even where a minority have been more affected by the loss of a direct bus service following First's review, they have still been able to continue making their journeys by changing buses, using other operators or, in the case of those with mobility difficulties, by becoming members of Bath Dial-a-Ride, which offers a door-to-door service five-days-a-week.
"Most of the revenue support that Bath & North East Somerset Council pays to bus operators is for stand-alone services that are additional to the basic commercial network. The amount of funding available for bus revenue support is limited.