Rating change will soften the blow of paying for new offices
Thursday 14th May 2009, 2:29PM BST.
RATES will increase by 60% for St Peter Port residents and businesses if tonight’s vote for the new Constables Office is passed, but they will not end up paying more.
Rates are set to be 12.4p in the £ this year. This will rise to 19.9p if the vote is passed.
However, the public will not pay more than in previous years.
Junior constable Barry Cash (pictured) explained that the change from basing the charge on rateable values to property footprint means that parishioners would have seen a reduction in their rates if this project had not gone ahead.
‘Rates won’t shoot up,’ he said.
‘St Peter Port rates have been historically low. This will continue to be the case and will still be one of the lowest of the island.’
The new constables’ building at Les Cotils would cost £2m. to construct and a further £500,000 would be needed to cover the rent of the land for the next 30 years.
Half of this would be raised by the sale of the Lefebvre Street office. The rest would be raised by increasing rates to generate an extra £250,000 per year for five years.
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We shall see look what has happened in the UK even after promises.
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Not any more they won’t. The plans were wisely thrown out by the SPP electorate for reconsideration.
One in the eye for barely democratically elected officers trying to create empires
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It was heartening to see the public actually take a stance and come out and stand up for themselves.
Most of the time we just sit back and let these things happen. I think the elected representatives need to start realising that we have a voice – and are not afraid to use it!
The SPP constables office and douzaine needs to be accessible – and their central town offices are just that. Moving to Les Cotils would be disastrous for a lot of the residents in the parish – parking up there is poor and apart from giving the douzenirs and staff a lovely new working environment and panoramic view it would not warrant the cost!
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