Relief for pensioners
JOBURG – From today, 1 July, pensioners are set to benefit from the City of Johannesburg’s rates rebates as the City implement new tariffs.
This comes after the City held public consultations with rate payers early in the year and decided to increase the pensioners’ income level requirement ensuring that more pensioners now qualify. City’s group finance spokesperson Kgamanyane Maphologela said the City had taken some of the suggestions from the residents and incorporated them in the new property rates rebates. Maphologela said, “We have made some significant improvements to ensure that a lot of pensioners benefit from our rebates on their properties. We understand harsh economic pressures facing our pensioners, hence we seek to provide some relief.”
He said the increase in property rates took into account the present unfavourable economic conditions, the high cost of living and the needs of the customers who qualify for the property rates. The property rates tariff for the 2015/16 has increased by 6 percent which is within the inflation target, Maphologela stated. Other tariffs that increase from 1 July include the 12.19 percent that is lower than the tariff increase of 12.69 percent announced by Eskom. The water tariff has increased to 14 percent and took into account that government subsidises the poor with 6 kilolitres of free water per month. Meanwhile the refuse removal has increased by 8 percent.
The pensioners who qualify for the property rates include homeowners whose gross monthly household income is lower than R7 850 (up from R7 406 last year) and whose property value does not exceed more than R2 million. These pensioners get 100 percent rebates. The pensioner must at least be 60 years old. The pensioner homeowners who are 70 years and above, irrespective of income, and stay in a property not more than R2 million, qualify for 100 percent rebates. The pensioner rebate applies to residential properties owned and occupied by pensioners. It also applies to others who have become pensioners due to injury and an owner in this category must apply for the council’s approval of a rebate on a form prescribed by the council, accompanied by their most recent income tax assessment issued by the South African Revenue Services or other proof of income acceptable to the council.
