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Fri, 29 Jan 2021
Douglas councillors have defended the decision to increase rates following what they say have been ‘significant losses’ caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was announced on Thursday that ratepayers in the capital will pay 1.6 per cent more in the next financial year.
Council Leader David Christian says the authority has missed out on more than £250,000 due to the impact of coronavirus.
He claims members did all they could to keep the increase to a minimum.
“We’d indicated very early on that due to Covid, due to loss of income, due to expenditure, that it was going to be extremely difficult to have a standstill rate”, Mr Christian said.
“If I look back to October, November last year I was predicting we were probably going to be looking at a 4 per cent rate increase.
“We knew quite well that wouldn’t be acceptable and we had to find ways of reducing that down.”
The decision to cancel successive Isle of Man TT festivals is thought to have resulted in a shortfall of £108,000.
Mr Christian added that more than £150,000 from car park revenue was also lost as a result of last year’s lockdown measures.
The chair of the council’s Housing Committee also backed the rate increase, insisting “each and every penny is accounted for”.
In a social media post, Clare Wells said: “I will ask that before you complain about the rates going up please spend even ten minutes reading why.
“If you still think you are able to achieve better results don’t forget the local elections are due to take place in April.”
Mr Christian is confident Douglas residents will understand the decision to increase rates to 451 pence in the pound.
He said the hike was in line or under inflation every year of the current council’s term in office.
“I would say it is expected. Over the last five years, RPI on average has been 4.1 per cent, rate increases over the same period have been about 2.3 per cent.
“Year on year, we’ve either been on inflation or below inflation with our rate increases, but we’ve also managed to keep a level of growth in all our budgets as well.”
Official data from the Isle of Man Government in December showed the retail prices index (RPI) increased by 2.7 per cent over the last 12 months.
The consumer prices index (CPI) rate of inflation stood at 0.1 per cent, down 2 per cent on December 2019.
Mr Christian spoke to Local Democracy Reporter Chris Cave:
David Christian on Rates Increase
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