In terms of Section 5 of the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act, Act 6 of 2004, the Rates Policy must be reviewed annually and amended if necessary.
On Wednesday 23 January 2013 the amended Rates Policy for 2013/2014 was tabled at the Finance and Procurement Committee at City Hall in Durban. This policy will soon be submitted for public comment in terms of Section 4 of the Municipal Property Rates Act.
The Democratic Alliance raised the issue of the Senor Citizens Rebate. “Currently, the main factor used to determine whether a senior citizen qualifies for the rebate is the value of the property. So what we currently have is some that can afford to pay the rates on their property getting the rebate simply because their property value falls below the ‘cap’ and others whose property value is above the ‘cap’ but cannot afford the rates because they are on a fixed income so find themselves ineligible for the rebate,” said DA member of the Finance and Procurement Committee Councillor Rick Crouch.
“What the DA proposed is a means test by income. For this to work, applicants for the senior citizens rebate have to be willing to state their income, within a range. This was attempted before, but people were unwilling to give the information.”
A new clause in the 2013/2014 Rates Policy is the Economic Development clause. This was inserted in order to stimulate development in certain identified key economic nodes in the City. Developers shall be afforded a rebate, as approved by Council at its annual budget.
“Since my time on the Economic Development committee in 2010 I have been arguing for a ‘rates incentive’ in order to attract businesses from other Municipalities and by extension create jobs here. The Municipality has not been very receptive to the idea, but I am glad to see this clause included in the policy, it is small steps in the right direction,” said Cllr Rick Crouch.
The draft policy along with the changes in definitions and the new Economic Development clause can be found on Councillor Rick Crouch’s website – www.ward10.co.za