St Helier set for rates bonanza

Friday 01 July 2016

Jersey's busiest parish is set to have a funding boost when States departments start to pay rates from 2017.

The move, which was proposed in today's Medium Term Financial Plan Addition, will net the parish around £610,000 - a welcome boost for a parish whose range of services and obligations dwarf the other 11.

In total, the States rate bill for all of its properties will be nearly £1m. However, they want to recover that cost through a readjustment of the non-domestic Island-wide rate, which goes straight to the Treasury. Currently, assessments of commercial properties are based on valuations that were carried out in 2003. 

Last year, the States agreed that it should start paying rates on its properties after approving a proposal by St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft. 

Treasury Minister Alan Maclean said today: "The Council of Ministers is concerned that the current rates system contains no mechanism for revaluation, which means that the rateable value of property have been effectively frozen for 13 years. Commercial property values have risen since 2003 so we anticipate rates will be considerably higher. Conversely, retail property has fallen so shops may well see their rates bill fall.

"We don't think it is appropriate to increase the Island-wide rate until the Rates Law changes to allow for the periodic revaluation of properties in the Island to address this unfairness and will work with the Comité des Connétables and rates assessors to bring forward changes at the earliest opportunity. We plan to be in a position to bring forward proposals in such time as to establish the compensating income stream from 2018 onwards. 

We acknowledge that this process will take time so are proposing that the States payment of parish rates goes ahead as planned from 1 January 2017, subject to the approval in the MTFP Addition and subsequent legislation alongside the Budget 2017, but that the proposals for the compensating income stream are deferred until 2018."

Constable Crowcroft said today: "I was very pleased to see this in the plan because it is something I have campaigned for since I have been a States Member, which is 20 years in August. It just makes sense: it makes the use of buildings more efficient and it also levels the playing field. How the extra money will be spent is up to ratepayers but I will recommend that it is used for urban improvements and regeneration. The building of the finance centre on the Waterfront will lead to more rates being paid, which hopefully means that the overall St Helier rate will continue to fall."

But not everyone is happy. Constable Juliette Gallichan said there were relatively few businesses in St Mary so a re-evalution would not affect many parishioners. However, she warned against schools having to pay rates, not least because she understood that the Council has previously given an undertaking that they would remain exempt.