OPINION | One way to help citizens during State of Disaster – exempt them from municipal rates
The IRR is calling on municipalities to give residents a rate cut under the Disaster Management Act. Photos: Alfred Grobbelaar There is provision for municipalities to reduce the rates they charge property owners or to exempt them from payment entirely. John Endres reflects on why municipalities should go this route. When Parliament drafted and adopted the law governing municipal rates – the Municipal Property Rates Act of 2004 – it foresaw a situation where a disaster would impose such hardship on citizens that they would find it difficult to pay their municipal rate...