Petty parish politics behind rates reversal?

Wednesday 04 October 2017

11 out of 12 Constables’ decision to veto a measure that could have reduced the amount parishioners pay out in rates was due to opposition to St Helier, rather than the idea itself, a senior rates assessor has said.

A leaked letter revealed last week that St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft had been frozen out by his colleagues who shot down his proposals to make the States pay rates on public buildings – despite nine of them having voted in favour of the idea in 2016.

That guidance has since led the Treasury Minister to u-turn on an agreement to make the States pay rates as agreed during last year’s budget. The £0.9m that would have been due to the parishes will now remain in the 2018 budget of the Department for Infrastructure, which will suffer a shortfall of £2.1million next year.

Having agreed to bring forward proposals on the matter last year, the Treasury Minister announced in his 2018 Budget proposition that he would no longer be doing so following the guidance from the “guardians of the parish rate system.” 

But now the Chairman of the Association of Jersey Rates Assessors, Edward Trevor MBE, has blasted the Constables’ behaviour in a letter shared with Express. In it, he intimated that the reason the parishes failed to support the measure was a personal one and that “no coherent reasons were given” for the disagreement.

Pictured: Edward Trevor CBE, who is Chairman of the Jersey Rates Assessors, claimed that the parish constables had not provided "coherent reasons" for their disagreement with the States paying parish rates.

“It is the usual “if proposed by St Helier” we will oppose it regardless of how sensible it may be,” he wrote. 

Making the case for the States to pay rates, Mr Trevor said: “The reason that the States should pay rates on their properties is to ensure economic use, so that departments realise the cost of their services and are treated in a similar manner to others in non-domestic properties.”

He said that similar rules already apply in to the Crown in the UK and States of Guernsey, and that having the States pay would reduce the burden on all island ratepayers.

He added that some parishes had already enjoyed the benefits of receiving rates from the States departments that were later incorporated: Jersey Post, Andium Homes and Ports of Jersey.

“All these now pay rates as they are not exempt and it has done no harm to any of them.

Pictured: Treasury Minister Alan Maclean decided not to bring forward proposals to make the States pay rates in the 2018 Budget following the advice of the Comité des Connétables.

“What is extraordinary is that the Constable of St Peter has voted against the States paying rates when he “boasted” according to report in the media, that he had been able to reduce the rate for his residents due to the Airport now paying full rates!  How can he now vote against the States paying rates unless he likes being hypocritical?” he wrote. 

Mr Trevor is now calling for the responsibility for making decisions on rates to be removed from the Constables Committee, “…as they no longer have any member who has any idea of assessing and it should be passed to a body which does.”

Meanwhile, St Helier Deputy Sam Mezec blasted the Treasury Minister - a former St Helier deputy - for reneging on the rates plans, describing it as "nothing short of a betrayal to our capital and the people who live there."

"My constituents are currently subsidising the whole Island by paying for services for States buildings which all Islanders benefit from. The States should be paying their bills and giving St Helier ratepayers a break," he commented on social media.

The Jersey Action Group - a campaign organisation - echoed these comments, warning that the moves could have implications come election time.