SRA Gets Green Light Go Ahead From Municipality
After a drawn out process stretching back to the St Francis Property Owners’ AGM of December 2015 when the new committee the proposed an SRA levy, it was finally approved at a Special Council meeting of the Kouga Municipality last week. The Special Ratings Area (SRA) although initially proposed at 50% was reduced to 25% and the area affected was reduced to St Francis Bay (Village and Canals). The SRA is considered essential in the process of “Saving St Francis”
The entire voting process was independently audited and approved by McWilliams and Elliott Attorneys in Port Elizabeth. This required that both the process and all votes be verified against the owner or the appointed representative of each property, a procedure that was wide-ranging that took several weeks to complete.
There have been rumours (hearsay) of possible legal action by disaffected residents who are opposed to the SRA levy on the grounds that some of our senior citizens may be hard pressed to meet the additional cost despite the positive affect that this will have on St Francis property values. Possibly rather than lining the pockets of attorneys and advocates in unnecessary and hugely expensive litigation against the Municipality, creating a trust fund should be considered. This money that could be used to assist those property owners who genuinely cannot afford the additional 25% added to their rates bill.
A point worth noting is that even with the added 25% on the rates bill the Kouga Municipal rates are still below or on line with most town and cities in South Africa. And an improved infrastructure can only be good for future property values.
The SRA levy will only come into being in July of this year along with the new municipal budget. Municipal Manager Charl du Plessis was unavailable for comment yesterday but no doubt more news and information will forthcoming days and weeks to come. Wayne Furphy, St Francis Property Owners Chairman has given his assurance all St Francis Bay property owners and indeed residents will be kept up yo date with developments by way of news broadcast in various meadia as well as on the SFPO website.
If you are not up to dat on what the SRA is all about and are now choking on your coffee, the full Motivation and Business Plan is available on the www.stfrancispropertyowners.co.za.
See map of demarcated area below
The SRA has indeed been approved by the Council, and everyone in the Village and Canals should now brace themselves for the usual annual Rates increase (7,5 %) on 1 July, plus now the SRA 25% on top.
However, it was only approved with significant AMENDMENTS, and you appear to have neglected to include these important details in your article.
The minutes of the Special Council Meeting reveal that the SRA Application was approved with amendments which knock at least a R35 million hole in the 10-year SRA Business Plan revenue projections.
Reduced revenue means that either the scope of work for the SRA projects will have to be reduced, or additional revenue sources identified.
Reduction of the original scope of work – on which the YES votes were solicited – does not appear to be a sustainable option for SFPO/SRA NPC, so we look forward to an announcement from SFPO as to how they intend to proceed to address the revenue shortfalls.
If you had read the article correctly you would have noted “more news and information will forthcoming days and weeks to come”. The article was simply announcing the go ahead, not the finite details. These will follow in time no doubt from both the Municipal Manager and SFPO.
Once again Mr Suter you play on the negative. You are clearly a mathematical genius to have been able to work out that if the contribution to SRA was reduced from 50% to 25% that the income would be reduced. Equally revenue will have been reduced by the exclusion of Santareme. The important thing is that the SRA has been approved and as explained at numerous meetings the original scope of work was revised to accommodate these adjustments. Hope fully we will now see some progress and action despite all your negativity. Congrats and thanks to those worthy souls who persevered at their own time and cost/expense to help bring a positive action that will enhance the value and appeal of St Francis Bay
Mr Ian Watt – you are confused and apparently ill-informed – respectfully suggest you properly acquaint yourself with the details of the issues before posting nonsense.