Residents in Louis Trichardt are angry and confused about the new rates and taxes being charged by the Makhado Municipality.

While some have been charged the new rates for some months now, others are only now finding the new rates on their accounts. To add to the confusion, some amounts appear to be credited and others are debited to the total, leaving people totally disgruntled.

“How are we supposed to know what all these amounts are for? Can we even be sure that we are being charged the right amounts?” one irate resident wanted to know.

This unhappiness comes on top of the dissatisfaction expressed earlier by residents by way of the Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association (SRPA), who declared a dispute with the Makhado Municipality in August last year. One of the main reasons for the dispute is the valuation roll which, according to the SRPA, has been compiled in a most unsatisfactory and inconsistent way.

As has been reported before, the municipality decided to implement the new rates and taxes retroactively from July last year. The reason for some amounts being credited and others being debited is that, in July last year, the implementation was accepted in principle but not in practice, since some problems existed with the valuation roll. In the meantime, residents were still being taxed according to the previous rates, which left the municipality with a problem regarding the amounts already paid. They therefore decided to “refund” the monies already paid by deducting the amounts on residents’ accounts. And this is exactly where the confusion comes in.

Some questions were put to the spokesperson of the municipality, Mr Louis Bobodi, regarding the possibility that Council has been implementing the new rates in phases, which would account for the fact that not everyone has been taxed according to the new rates simultaneously. If this is the case, one is left wondering when the process will have run its course. Another question deals with the fact that house prices have been following a downward trend over the last year or so. Since this is the case, the municipality should consider revising the valuation roll accordingly, thereby providing home owners with some relief regarding rates and taxes. At the time of going to press, no answers had been received from Mr Bobodi.