Residents urged to take note of the new revised draft rates policy
JOBURG – Proposed significant drop in the property rate was to ease the negative economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on both property owners and the City.
Revised draft Rates Policy now available for additional public comments following virtual public meetings held in February 2021.
The revised Rates Policy is currently available on the City’s website for public comment alongside the draft 2021/22 Mid-Term Budget and the Integrated Development Plan (IDP). The draft documents are also being presented for input in ongoing virtual and physical public meetings currently being held across the city. The Rates Policy, which is reviewed annually defines and categorises all properties within the borders of Johannesburg. It also allows the City to generate rates revenue by assigning a tariff to the property values obtained in the General Valuation Roll.
According to a statement by the City, the newly proposed rates tariff increases in the 2021/22 Budget have reduced the property rate from 4 per cent last year to 2 per cent across all categories of properties. Finance MMC Jolidee Matongo explained that the proposed significant drop in the property rate was to ease the negative economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on both property owners and the City while ensuring sustainable service delivery.
Matongo said, “It is important that the City, within its confines, finds a balance between its financial sustainability to enable service delivery continuation and the affordability of residents amid the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic impact on all of us, hence residents’ comments on the draft Rates Policy, Budget and the IDP are important.”
Amendments to the draft Rates Policy include an increase in income levels for pensioners who qualify for the spectrum of pensioner rebates that are available. Pensioners aged 60 and above, with a property valued at R2 500 000 or below, and a gross monthly income that is below or equal to R10 545 – up from R10 338 last year – qualify for a 100 per cent rebate. Additionally, pensioners who earn above R10 546, and not more than R18 073 – up from a maximum of R17 719 last year, qualify for a 50 per cent rebate.
Matongo added, “The goal is to widen the net to allow a larger number of qualifying pensioners to benefit from the rebate programme.”
The draft Rates Policy is currently available on the City’s website (www.joburg.org.za) alongside the 2021/22 Mid-Term Budget and IDP. Public comments may be made in writing and submitted before 8 May 2021 by email to ratescomments@joburg.org.za . The new Rates Policy is expected to come into effect on 1 July 2021.
