Minutes:
The Committee was advised that, in accordance with its decision of 19th September, representatives of the Land and Property Services agency were in attendance to discuss the various rates issues. Accordingly, Messrs. J. Wilkinson, A. Bronte, A. Scott and Ms. G. Fryer were admitted to the meeting and welcomed by the Chairman.
Mr. Wilkinson welcomed the opportunity to address the Committee in relation to the rates finalisation for 2007/08 which had resulted in a clawback from the Council of over £4 million. He stated that a number of factors had contributed to this including reductions in the valuation tax base, significant losses in collection arising from increased vacancy discharges, increases in allowances awarded in the landlord sector, losses in revenue arising from the cap on rates and increases in the cost of collection. He expressed his disappointment at such a variance between the estimate and the outcome but indicated that these were a natural part of the process and reinforced the need for closer working between the agency and the Council in calculating the estimates. He pointed out that the agency had worked together with Council officers over the previous 18 months and were committed to developing that relationship and improving the processes in regard to the estimated Penny Rate Product.
In response to a number of questions, the members of the deputation made the following points:
· the amount of rates arrears for the Belfast City Council area had fallen from an opening balance of £46.3 million to £22.9 million. The debts would only be written off when all recovery processes had been exhausted and while the amount of debts which were written off were fairly low – approximately 98% of rates were collected – the agency had advised the Assembly Committee to the Department of Finance and Personnel that it would review its debt recovery and write-off procedures and in doing so would consult with Local Government finance officers.
· in regard to the levels of irrecoverable debt for 2008/09 and 2009/10, the agency could look only at past trends and could not estimate the figures with any certainty. However, the Land and Property Services agency would undertake to look at the question which had been raised and see if those figures could be provided to the Council;
· the agency would commence a regular process of updating information in relation to the listing of vacant properties and this would be done in partnership with the Council’s Building Control Service;
· the Land and Property Services agency would be willing to develop and enter into a formal Service Level Agreement with the Council in relation to rates issues; and
· with regard to how the cost of the collection of rates was apportioned, this was determined by the Rates Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 and was a matter which the Council would have to address through the Minister with responsibility for the Department of Finance and Personnel.
The Chairman on the behalf of the Committee thanked the representatives of Land Property Services for attending and they retired from the meeting.
After discussion, the Committee agreed:
(i) to authorise officers to develop for submission to the Minister with responsibility for the Department of Finance and Personnel and the Rating Policy Division a paper which dealt with the following matters:
(a) the apportionment of the cost of the collection of rates to be based on the rateable hereditaments as reflected in the valuation lists as at the 31st March of each financial year;
(b) the amendment of the regulations in relation to a specific requirement on the Department of Finance and Personnel to provide Local Authorities with an estimated Penny Rate Product;
(c) to amend the regulations to place a duty on the Department to undertake revised calculations during the year and notify Councils of any major variations to the estimated Penny Rate Product;
(d) to place a requirement on the Department to notify Councils of the final outturn figure for the actual Penny Rate Product by 30th June following the end of financial year;
(e) issues in relation to debt and rate arrears; and
(f) other potential changes to the rating policy.
(ii) to endorse the establishment of a working group between representatives of the Council, Land and Property Services and the Institute of Revenue, Rating and Valuation to work on improvement; and
(iii) to authorise the establishment of a Service Level Agreement between the Council and the Land and Property Services agency for the overall service provided by the agency.