‘Our rates may double under changes’ warns Bride Commissioner

A Bride commissioner has warned that ratepayers in the parish may see their bills double if major changes are made to the local authority taxes.

The collection and distribution of both domestic and commercial rates was the subject of a government consultation which closed last week (21 April).

One of the suggestions is that business rates could be gathered by a central agency, not local authorities, but this proposal has provoked strong opposition from some.

Bride Commissioners take 73% of their rates income from commercial sources, primarily the sand and gravel quarry at the Point of Ayre.

The current situation leaves residents paying the lowest rates in the Island, at 43 pence in the pound for the 181 households in the parish.

Commissioner Michelle Edwin says there’s no doubt Bride benefits from the system, but some feel low rates are compensation for the presence of a quarry, and a major landfill site.

Speaking on her own behalf, not for the local authority, Mrs Edwin warns if business rates were taken away from the parish, domestic payers would have to fork out more.

In her fifteen years as a Bride commissioner, the board has always tried to keep rates low, spending as little as possible to minimise demands on ratepayers.

They were frozen this year, but Mrs Edwin says if the government makes certain changes to the system, staggered increases in bills may become the norm for the people of Bride.