The Democratic Alliance welcomes the lowering of the Bed and Breakfast and Tuck-shop tariffs by the eThekwini Municipality.
At a meeting of the Economic Development and Planning Committee on 02 February 2011 city officials were interrogated by Councillor Rick Crouch as to the reasoning behind the high tariffs in eThekwini compared with other Metros. Of particular concern were the new tariff of R8,423 imposed on bed & breakfasts, tuck-shop’s and home businesses. "The officials attempted to pass the blame onto the new Provincial Development Act (PDA) which they said left them no room to maneuver on the tariffs. On further investigation by me that proved to be not true." said Councillor Crouch.
At the most recent meeting of the Economic Development and Planning Committee on 07 April 2011, an addendum was presented to the committee for approval whereby the tariffs for bed & breakfasts had been revised down to R4,000 and tuck-shop’s down to R1,500. Councillor Crouch questioned the municipal officials in this regard. "I wanted to know the thought process, although we welcome the downward revision, I wanted to know why tuck-shop’s and not home businesses. After all, a tuck-shop is much more disruptive to a residential neighbourhood than a bookkeeping business, so you would think the special consent would have remained for the tuck-shop and revised downward for non-disruptive home businesses such as bookkeeping" said Councillor Crouch.
"We are not in favour of tariff increases in this economic climate, I made this clear and also suggested that all current tariffs be reviewed as they are far too high when compared to other Metros, these tariffs do nothing to encourage business to our city and in fact achieves the exact opposite. This is just the beginning and I will keep fighting on behalf of the residents of our city to keep as much of their hard earned money in their pocket and away from the municipality" said Councillor Crouch. |
