I am active in the discussion with CoCT about the new property valuations as well as the council budget and Rates bill increases. As chair of the CT Collective Ratepayers Association I am worried that the narrative that CoCT is putting out (that the Rates are lowest in the country) is not accurate. We all know that there are multiple factors that influence the total rates bill, not just the Rate-in-the-Rand. While I do not want to sound ungrateful for the better service delivery in Cape Town I also believe that the information surrounding what we are paying for it should be honest and transparent. CoCT does not need to ‘spin’ this. What I believe would be beneficial for the general public is a like-for-like comparison of the total municipal bills for properties (similar neighbourhoods, size, etc) in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. How would one go about this and if anyone is able to help please reach out. Thanks
Why have you left Gqeberha out of the mix? We have sky-high rates and get very little in return.
Some areas have been without water for 14 days. In Chelsea / Theescombe where I live, there is a power failure almost daily. I administer a rental property in cape Town and in PE / Gqeberha and the rates in PE are HIGHER than in Cape Town.
the choice for Johannesburg and EThekwini is because those are the metros that Cape Town is consistently mentioning in their comparisons. I do not debate at all that there are other metros with sky high rates (with significantly less service delivery), but I would like to see an honest comparison.
In terms of water and electricity costs, the easiest way to compare is to look at current residential tariffs in each municipality and assume a typical household consumption level. Using the tariff and the assumed kWh and litres of consumption, one can compare the water and electricity costs for the average household.
True, the real difficulty is finding properties that are comparable in terms of location etc. I am not familiar enough with the real estate market to do this unfortunately