Rates and water charges - just curious.....

redsandy101

cathy2702 wrote:

I agree with LeftieM, lets ALL with hold payment. Just put the payment to one side and let them go through the !!!!!! of sending letters, verifying who we are and eventually the court system. Then we all turn up on the morning of the court with the payment, and it wont affect us. It'll teach them right.

I know lots of people who are too frightened to do this but it's because they arent aware of the consequences, lets tell as many people as we can and help them too, mass non payment is the only way to really let them know how we feel

Cath

I am a member of Nipsa and they are adamant that everyone in that union (many many thousands) refuse to pay their water rates they say they can't prosecute that many people, I'm very tempted but don't know if I have the nerve to go up against the government. It'll be interesting to see how many members will.

murphy61

We have a septic tank, so no sewerage rates, but what Water Service don't seem to know -yet- is that our water comes from a well. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how difficult it is to get them to accept the fact. I wonder if anyone else uses well water?

deeor

If you don't have a connection to the water main then you are quids in. If you have a connection then expect to be billed. However if you can wangle the installation of a meter at least you will be able to ensure you use the minimum of mains water.

Good luck

mackers8923

I have just opened my Water Rates Letter and the details are as scary as I thought they were going to be:

Water

Standing Charge - £17.00
Variable Charge - £28.03

Sewerage

Standing Charge - £16.00
Variable Charge - £28.50

Total - £89.53 - So £268 give or take in 2009

Thats based on a Capital Value of £95,000 which my property was worth 2 years ago. Next door has just been bought for £164k so what on earth do I have to look forward to when we have our next Capital Value Review? !!!!!! All....

IvanOpinion

We have to accept that in NI we have been undercharged on local taxation for many years (so whether or not wtaer is included in the rates is of limited relevance). Like in several other decisions being forced to be taken by Westminister all the local political parties know the real-life situation and are quite happy to allow Westminister to take the blame on this .. however they themselves would have to raise an appropriate amount of revenue.

We have agreed to local assemblies, north south bodies, east west bodies, Westminister, Europe, various quangoes to ensure neither side of the community feels left out etc. ... we demand MLAs, MPs, MEPs. We keep demanding more and more services out of the public purse (instead of paying for it themselves) ... everybody has their little pet project ... all of these add up and all have to be paid for.

I am willing to pay my fair share of usage and therefore want it to be metered. I will accept this year that it is not feasible but I personally will pay a significantly reduced amount from year 3 until I get a meter installed. The only reason why people are willing to say they will not be paying is because they know that water can not be cut off .. however I think sewage may be a different matter (open to correction on this). Anybody who gets blacklisted on various credit reports will basically get what they deserve (and if you do not think that is important then consider what might happen the next time you try to remortgage, buy a car or try to get credit .. and how much time and inconvenience it will cost to get this fixed).

I think that as a minimum everybody should pay the standing charge, to ensure that we do have a quality water and sewage system but what you do with the water charge itself is up to each individual. This may be enough to stop people from being blacklisted. I don't want to pay for this any more than anybody else but realise that if we demand the service then it somehow has to be paid for ... my attitude is that if you can afford tobacco and alchohol then you can afford water.

Ivan

leftieM

IvanOpinion wrote:

I think that as a minimum everybody should pay the standing charge, to ensure that we do have a quality water and sewage system but what you do with the water charge itself is up to each individual. This may be enough to stop people from being blacklisted. I don't want to pay for this any more than anybody else but realise that if we demand the service then it somehow has to be paid for ... my attitude is that if you can afford tobacco and alchohol then you can afford water.

That's a good idea! Even witholding a portion of the charge will create problems for the water service. As I've said before, my main problem is the pending privatisation of the water service and I'm pretty keen to contribute to scuppering that. I believe that, if you have a free market economy, monopolies are very bad for the consumer (look at NIE). The water companies in England seem, from news reports, to have underspent on infrastructure and to have profited greatly. I don't want to see that here. Unless I get shares .

mackers8923

IvanOpinion wrote:

We have to accept that in NI we have been undercharged on local taxation for many years (so whether or not wtaer is included in the rates is of limited relevance). Like in several other decisions being forced to be taken by Westminister all the local political parties know the real-life situation and are quite happy to allow Westminister to take the blame on this .. however they themselves would have to raise an appropriate amount of revenue.

We have agreed to local assemblies, north south bodies, east west bodies, Westminister, Europe, various quangoes to ensure neither side of the community feels left out etc. ... we demand MLAs, MPs, MEPs. We keep demanding more and more services out of the public purse (instead of paying for it themselves) ... everybody has their little pet project ... all of these add up and all have to be paid for.

I am willing to pay my fair share of usage and therefore want it to be metered. I will accept this year that it is not feasible but I personally will pay a significantly reduced amount from year 3 until I get a meter installed. The only reason why people are willing to say they will not be paying is because they know that water can not be cut off .. however I think sewage may be a different matter (open to correction on this). Anybody who gets blacklisted on various credit reports will basically get what they deserve (and if you do not think that is important then consider what might happen the next time you try to remortgage, buy a car or try to get credit .. and how much time and inconvenience it will cost to get this fixed).

I think that as a minimum everybody should pay the standing charge, to ensure that we do have a quality water and sewage system but what you do with the water charge itself is up to each individual. This may be enough to stop people from being blacklisted. I don't want to pay for this any more than anybody else but realise that if we demand the service then it somehow has to be paid for ... my attitude is that if you can afford tobacco and alchohol then you can afford water.

Ivan

I would agree totally with you probably but I still have so many unknowns. As an example do we currently pay a % of our current rates for Water? I've only been a home owner for 2 years and with a career change looming it is rather worrying that I'm going to be paying more when I was getting around to saving and living off what I already earn along with my partner.

IvanOpinion

mackers8923 wrote:

I would agree totally with you probably but I still have so many unknowns. As an example do we currently pay a % of our current rates for Water? I've only been a home owner for 2 years and with a career change looming it is rather worrying that I'm going to be paying more when I was getting around to saving and living off what I already earn along with my partner.

Whether or not it is included in the rates ia mute point. I can't remember the actual figures but as an example (I would need to check the figures) the average house in NI may pays about £800 in rates while in England the average council tax is about £1000 plus £300 or so of water. If we are to say that water was included then that would mean we were effectively paying £500 in local taxes which is half of what our cousins in England pay ... yet in NI we demand more services. I know the two tax systems are different and that council powers are different but we still have remember our rates includes two elements which allows us to compare liek for like.

I was told a couple of years ago that in 2010 (I think) we can expect to be paying double the current amount of rates (I can't remember if this included or excluded water). So if, for example, your rates were £1000 in 2003/2004 then expect to be paying £2000 in 2010. This of course was only one councillors prediction, but past experience shows he usually knows what is going on.

ivan

marksimpson

I will be paying the standing charges plus 38% of the variable charges. I live on my own therefore my household contains 38% of the number of people of the average household in Northern Ireland (2.65 people according to the Office of National Statistics).

IvanOpinion

marksimpson wrote:

I will be paying the standing charges plus 38% of the variable charges. I live on my own therefore my household contains 38% of the number of people of the average household in Northern Ireland (2.65 people according to the Office of National Statistics).

I would agree with this approach and was thinking along similar lines

Ivan