You can choose not to go to church, but you can’t choose not to pay for it

Monday 23 February 2015

Guernsey residents might get the option to opt-out of paying rates towards the upkeep of church buildings but St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft says he’s not planning on doing the same thing here.

The two most senior politicians in Guernsey – Chief Minister Jonathan Le Tocq and Treasury Minister Gavin St Pier – are pushing proposals to let ratepayers there choose about paying for upkeep of churches, which is estimated to cost each islander £7 a year.

But here, St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft isn’t impressed with the idea. He says his priority is to finally get the parish the £1 million in States income from their rates bill, rather than the £20-30,000 that the parishioners pay on the church.

At the moment, the law says the States don’t have to pay rates to the parishes, but he says that’s not fair because it means ratepayers in his parish are unfairly forced to subsidise the government through the property tax, while people who live out of town don’t have to.

He said: “Parish rates, which are low compared to other parts of the world anyway, are not service-specific. If someone says that they don’t want to pay rates because they don’t agree with recycling or a particular project, they are missing out on the fact that rates are effectively a tax on property.

“The Constable and the Procureurs are there to ensure that the money is spent in the best interests of the community.

“We have a major building in St Helier on which we have spent £2 million, the Town Church. That wasn’t popular, but it is an important asset.”

And he added that despite a late election campaign promise from Senator Philip Ozouf for a “new deal” for St Helier, he has had one meeting with ministers but is waiting for a firm offer.

“If necessary I will have an amendment to the Strategic Plan to make sure that there is flesh on the bone of the much-hyped promise to end the unfairness for St Helier,” he said.

“To me, these issues are much more important than examining whether we should have an established church in St Helier or indeed in Jersey.”