THE tariff tables including the determination of rates was passed at the recent council meeting on 28 March 2018.
There were two adjustments worth bringing to the attention of residents.
The heavy tariffs placed on vacant land with a view to densifying Durban have been ameliorated for land “outside the Urban Development Line”.
A reduction of R30 000 on the market value of the land was granted. Not a huge amount but it will please those of us who want to keep the Outer West as green and undeveloped as possible.
It was resolved to place a maximum limit of R4 million on the value of property in order to qualify for the Senior Citizens Rebate.
Only those senior citizens whose property value is above R2 million will qualify if their monthly income from a registered pension fund/SASSA does not exceed R7 000 per month. It makes no mention of other sources of income.
The conditions pertaining to the setting up of Special Rating Areas (SRA) have grown from about two pages to more than 30 pages and now appear more onerous and intimidating than before. This is unfortunate because they are a good idea.
I make mention of SRA’s because the work done by Keep Hillcrest Beautiful covers a lot of what SRA’s try to do.
What the Old Main Road through Hillcrest would look like without the immense amount of weeding and planting done by Keep Hillcrest Beautiful Association one shudders to think.
Communities are going to have to play a much bigger part in keeping their areas looking good going forward. This affects the property value of every house owner’s property.
The association does this by working very hard to raise money which is used for the good of the whole community.
They also run the recycling centre which many residents use and appreciate.
It is time more businesses and private citizens started to support this selfless initiative if they want it to survive.
The association is very grateful for the help they do get from donors but more people need to become aware of the need to support KHBA.
All this applies in equal measure to the work done by Keep Kloof Beautiful in keeping central Kloof looking so good.
DA councillor Gillian Noyce
Hillcrest
