As a follow up to my previous article titled: Unprecedented Rate Increase by Brikama Area Council; I have observed that they issued me with an invoice in which it has been clearly specified that the Rateable value is Five hundred Dalasis (D500.00), followed by Rateable charges where nothing has been indicated or specified and at the bottom line below it, is indicated that the total amount due is recorded as two thousand Dalasis (D2, 000.00).
I guess the same invoice must have been issued to other landlords. What is more interesting is the unexplained one thousand five hundred Dalsis (D1, 500) as the remaining balance from the total amount of two thousand Dalasis (D2, 000.00). In simple accounting principles one would have expected some specification for the balance of one thousand five hundred Dalasis (D1, 500) where there are no previous arrears to be accounted for, in the absence of which rendered the balance as suspicious or doubtful.
This has raised the concerns of all the residents in BRUSUBI and therefore demand for justification of the increase, since there is no specification of the balance for no apparent reasons. In the absence of the above, the decision should be revisited or those who have paid be refunded or the balance be considered as three-year payment in advance.
The most surprising aspect of the whole matter is the fact that the council is not providing or has not been providing any services to the community in terms of development from the revenue being collected from them that should have warrant such an increase.
In view of the new pathway to widen the space for democratic governance it is therefore advisable for Brikama Area Council administration to be transparent in their revenue collection process in the interest of social justice to win the hearts and minds of the community in order to meet environmental and community development challenges focusing more on development priority services needed.
It is noted in the Act; that effective delivery of service is the sole responsibility of local government authorities, while some are joint responsibility services with central government and/or discretionary responsibility. In this respect, the Act specify the 60% to be ploughed back for development interventions to ensure effective dispensation of service delivery by the local government administration.
I urge the council authorities to look into this inconsistency in order to reconcile their invoices with what is definitively the rateable value with arrears if there is any as well as clear specification of other charges and issue that to the landlords. Otherwise, the invoice would be considered suspicious and the tax payers will be reluctant to pay as they are not clear what to pay.
Mr. Yusupha F.J. Dibba
Lecturer: University of the Gambia
School of Business and Public Administration