Rates Review - the facts.
Wednesday, 25 August 2004
I had a telephone call which went like this…
Caller: “Do you support a rates review?” (I answered in the affirmative) Caller: “So, what are you going to do about it?”
It transpires that some candidates in this election are telling folk that should they be elected they will initiate a review of the current rating system. My caller had been informed by certain sitting councillors that this Council did not intend to review the rating system.
All I can say to this is - they cannot have been awake at council meetings over the last year, or read the Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP).
The need for a rates review has been talked about since I joined council at the beginning of last year (and probably before this). Funding for a review in the 2004/05 year was part of the Draft LTCCP which went out to consultation and was confirmed by council resolution this year.
Council is committed to a comprehensive review of the current rating system in the 2004/05 year. Preliminary work has already started on this review and it has been budgeted for in the LTCCP (see Operating Programme 542.01 Rates Review).
The LTCCP is available at the Council Customer Services Centre and can be viewed at the Library, at the Housing Advice Centre on Cuba Street, and at the Milson Community Centre when I am there on the first Saturday of every month from 10am till midday. It is also available on the Council website. Details are contained in the section titled, “An Effective and Responsible Council”.
Click here to view the LTCCP online.
