Dear Editor
PLEASE refer to an article by James Mc Onnel captioned “City Hall would have a hard time convincing property owners to pay their rates,” published in the Friday December 1, 2017 edition of your newspaper. We at Council would like to express gratitude to those ratepayers who came forward and honoured their obligations to the Council.

The Council wants to make it clear that the payment of general rates is not optional, but it is a legal obligation of property owners stipulated in the Municipal and District Council Act, Chapter 28:01, which states at section 204 that: “Every Council shall for each rating area within its Council area make and levy for each rating period a general rate, which shall be sufficient to meet the expenditure estimate to be incurred by the council in carrying out its functions under this Act during the rating period.”

During the period of November 15, 2017 to December 2, 2017, the Council was able to collect approximately (50) fifty million dollars. The Council continues to see a consistent flow of ratepayers coming to the Council on a daily basis to make use of the amnesty. Also, those who are unable to benefit from the amnesty are making use of our special payment plan, which allows the ratepayer to pay a percentage of the arrears and to enter into a contractual arrangement to pay the outstanding amounts.

Regards,
Debra Lewis
Public Relations Officer