Commissioner calls for overhaul of rating system

Juan McGuinness a Ramsey Commissioner has criticised a motion of a leisure rate

The foundations of the ratings system need to be "fixed" before an all-island leisure rate could be introduced, a northern local authority member has said.

Ramsey Commissioner Juan McGuiness said that while the suggestion by one of the town’s national politicians was interesting, he did not think it would "get very far".

Member of the House of Keys Lawrie Hooper has put forward a motion to introduce the leisure rate, with the money ringfenced to pay for regional swimming pools.

But McGuinness said the foundations of the island's 50-year-old rating system were "fundamentally flawed" and should be addressed first.

Hooper argued that the current system of paying for regional pools through local rates was unfair, as no rate was charged to people living in the east to fund the National Sports Centre (NSC) pool.

'Out of date'

McGuinness said while the MHK had talked about the proposed new charge "in the context of rate reform", it was instead "simply a tax on Douglas residents to help pay for the NSC".

The councillor pointed out that the current swimming pool rate system was not compulsory, and had been adopted by local authorities on a discretionary payment basis.

He said what was needed was “actual, full rate reform” for the whole island, as the current system was now 50 years old.

“It’s based on a time in the island when living in the country wasn’t as beneficial as living in town, so all our rates are completely skew-whiff and out of date," he said.

He said while he acknowledged Hooper had presented the change to swimming pool rates as a possible path to wider rate reform, it was the wrong place to start.

"I think when you’ve got such a fundamentally flawed system underneath, adding more of what is effectively taxes on top just hits the same people in the same way and doesn’t solve anything," he added.