The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business

Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

AN ABACO district council will later this month decide whether to initiate legal action against the Government over its alleged failure to rebate to it up to $60,000 in collected real property tax revenues.

Jeremy Sweeting, Hope Town’s chief councillor, told Tribune Business that despite collecting some $600,000 in real property arrears over the period 2017-2018, the Government has failed to live up to “a legally binding” agreement to return a portion back to the council and directly benefit the local area. “The money can help with Dorian reconstruction efforts, for sure,” he said.

The agreement with the Department of Inland Revenue, which both parties signed, pledged that the Government would return a portion of the arrears - a minimum ‘floor’ of 2 percent, up to a maximum of 10 percent - to Hope Town District Council. It was intended as a pilot programme that would then be duplicated with other local councils and government areas.

However, Hope Town has yet to receive a dime, and Mr Sweeting said: “We have a district council meeting on September 20, and we look to put it to a motion whether or not we should get a private lawyer and take the Government to court over our tax rebate if we don’t get an answer from them by September 30. I’m going to encourage one of the council members to bring forth a motion to hire a private attorney and take the Government to court.

“We met with the minister of economic affairs, Michael Halkitis, and we have spoken to our member of parliament, John Pinder, who was also present at that meeting. We came down to Nassau and met with them, and they promised us within several months we will receive this rebate. That has not happened.

“We had another local government conference after the local government elections were held. At the conference there was a seminar in May where I told them again that we want our money by September, because that is when we receive all funds. This was not suddenly decided two months ago. We said if we receive nothing before the end of September we will take the Government to court because we have a legally binding agreement.”

That local government conference was held back in May, Mr Sweeting said, adding that the real property tax collection by the Hope Town District Council was stopped after one year due to the lack of response and rebates from the Government.

The initiative began on February 12, 2015, when a Hope Town delegation met with the then-Christie administration. The group, which included Mr Sweeting and two to three council members, as well as realtors and property managers, had a proposal for tackling the collection, valuation and assessment challenges with real property tax.

“Local government made the argument that said: ‘We’re on the ground, we know everybody on a personal basis, the second homeowners that pay property tax, and with our statutory authority as the local planning authority we accept applications for building permits’,” Mr Sweeting explained then. “They have to declare the value of construction.

“We have a general understanding of the situation, we could be a big help, and we’d offer to help with real property tax collection if we could retain a percentage. That was the proposal. We went back and forth on it.”

The then-administration warmed to the idea, with former prime minister, Perry Christie, informing Parliament while unveiling that year’s Budget that changes to the Local Government Act would empower certain local councils to collect real property taxes on Nassau’s behalf while retaining “a share of the proceeds” to fund capital improvements in their areas.

The amendments to that Act gave local government the powers of the Chief Valuation Officer to collect real property taxes in their areas, using the tax roll provided by central government. However, it was not as simple as just passing legislation. Mr Sweeting said Hope Town District Council, after enactment of the Act, still had to negotiate “a legally binding agreement” to perform these functions with the Ministry of Finance. The latter drafted the deal, which both parties signed.

Daphne Degregory- Miaoulis, president of the Abaco Chamber of Commerce, added that while the Prime Minister acknowledged the difficulties with rebuilding Abaco at the Hurricane Dorian memorial last week, he did not mention anything about extending the Special Economic Recovery Zone (SERZ) order for a further three years as the group had requested.

“If we deserve better then he has to put his money where his mouth is. They have sent a response to my letter and they are asking me to justify why we need to extend the SERZ,” she said. “They are talking out of both sides of their mouth. I was speaking to [Mr Sweeting] and he said that Hope Town has not received the first penny yet from the 10 percent rebate they were promised, and they keep asking about it and all the Government keeps saying is that they are looking into it.”