Laxey News
Village Rate for Financial Year 2014/2015
The Village rate will be
held at 165p in the £ for next financial year, this will be the 4th year the
rate has remained at this level. However, the Department
of Infrastructure has
announced that charges for tipping domestic waste at the EFW Plant will rise
from £57.35 to £79.50 from the 1st April
2014. This along with increases
Laxey’s share of the Eastern Civic Amenity Site Operational costs will result
in the current fixed refuse charge rising from £139 to £163 per property. It should be noted that contractor
responsible for servicing the domestic refuse bins has maintained their cost at
the 2013/14 level. The increase to the
Waste Charges are regrettable but unavoidable, as the Government continues to
balance the books by passing costs on the ratepayer. Unfortunately this trend is set to continue
over the coming years as more services and costs are passed onto the Local
Authorities.
Chief Minister's Cancellation Causes Consternation
The Chief Minister has cancelled his meeting with the Island's Local Authorities set for 29th of January 2014. High on the agenda would have been the proposals contained in the recent consultations and recommendations endorsed by Tynwald on Public Housing changes and Waste Collection. David Talbot, chair of the Isle of Man Municipal Association - which represents 19 of the 24 local authorities - expressed his disappointment on the cancellation in a direct letter to Mr Bell on the 23rd of January. In the letter, Mr Talbot stated that the Member Authorities had been "looking forward to a frank exchange of views on the future structure of local government". Mr Talbot continued, " The Municipal Association is not here to merely resist change but to encourage healthy debate as to how we can contribute to solving a national crisis which is not of our doing...we are prepared to play our part as local authorities, but we had expected better."