THE decision to increase the Lautoka City rate by 5 per cent was done in accordance with the Local Government Act, says Lautoka board of special administrators chair Taitusi Rasoki.
Lautoka Residents and Ratepayers Association president Narayan Reddy had queried the increase and whether appropriate processes were followed prior to implementation.
In an email addressed to the board, Mr Reddy said the 5 per cent rate increase had been added “on our rates as special rates”.
“As far as the association is concerned, any special rate increase has to do with a project by LCC and the increase is done through proper consultation and then gazetted before the special rate increases,” Mr Reddy said.
“Furthermore, any special rate increase has a time frame, as I am sure neither the Lautoka City Council or the ratepayers’ association want a repeat of what happened to the city mall project which was refinanced three times and the burden put on ratepayers to pay for.”
Mr Reddy said the association had been working with the council for many years and would like to maintain the same relationship.
In response, Mr Rasoki said Section 59 of the Local Government Act states a council may make and levy special rates in all or any part of the municipality for the purpose of carrying out any work or service which may be undertaken by the council or for the payment of interest and sinking fund of any loan raised by the council for such purposes.
He said such special rates should not exceed 5 cents in on the unimproved value of any rateable land within the municipality.
Mr Rasoki said the increase was to help pay off the $3.1million loan used to fund the bus station upgrade works.
“We are increasing it by 0.006 cents, so there’s no need for concern, because we’re working below the threshold.”
Mr Rasoki said the new increase would be gazetted today.
When asked whether these special rates would be removed once the $3.1m loan was paid off, Mr Rasoki declined to comment.