Cape Town’s first city-wide, uniform rate for residents and businesses alike is to be an effective 1c in the rand, based on the 2000 General Valuation Roll.
The residential rate is based on 1,4c in the rand, less a 30% rebate which brings it down to 0,98c in the rand.
The City of Cape Town Council estimates that about 33% of the 600 000 ratepayers, including businesses, will pay a bigger rates bill than they do now, and the rest will find their bill either stays the same or drops.
Most of the increases will be in the old Cape Town administration area, particularly along the Atlantic seaboard, where property values have increased sharply over the past 30 years.
The valuation roll is still the subject of appeals and a High
Court application.
Also for the first time, all the people of Cape Town will pay a separate charge for sewerage and rubbish removal on top of their rates bill, the City of Cape Town has decided.
The city’s new rating policy, hammered out by a multiparty working group over the past few months, was the only uncontested item at Tuesday’s all-day executive committee meeting, marred by delays, secret caucusing and sharp exchanges between the Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress.
The policy and the rate were approved by a full council meeting on Wednesday. – Sapa