£50 Sewerage Charge

[Grianane]

Actually if its right it makes those who don't pay tax as they don't earn enough or are capped coz they do contribute.

[DRIVER]

 

 

 

 

 

Did I hear on Manx Radio that the Government is to introduce a £50 charge for every household to cover the cost of sewerage management?

 

What will they think of next?

thought we already paid as part of the water rates

&They will just have to deduct it from the rates as we already pay it ! Edited January 21, 2014 by DRIVER

[AcousticallyChallenged]

Well, this new charge is rather shitty.

 

But on a more serious note, doesn't the water bill go to the same people? The amount of water coming in ≈ the amount of water coming out plus a little bit of poo which they just pump into the sea anyway...

[Lightening McQueen]

I'm all for water meters and user pays. Why should say, a pensioner living on their own, using very little water, pay the same as a family next door who have say, the washing machine on every day, baths, showers, and wash their car(s) at the weekend? Certainly, bring these on, together with a revue of the rating system. User pays? B******s!

[english zloty]

No the rates cover the cost of the water authority clean water investment plan. The merger took about 10million to help pay off IRIS overspend. This pootax is to pay for IRIS II. The clean water rates are due to increase year on year + the poo had, so IS guess elecy bills will go up to hide this fact

[english zloty]

Fat fingers:

 

10mill off investment plan.... + pooh tax...so I guess..

[Roger Mexico]

Why would metering be a good idea? Not like we are exactly short of the stuff here is it?

 

But metering allows you to maintain an enormous bureaucracy and increase your administration costs. And then there's all the extra costs to fit and maintain al the meters with all the opportunities for lucrative contracts. What's not to love?

[Roger Mexico]

I'm all for water meters and user pays. Why should say, a pensioner living on their own, using very little water, pay the same as a family next door who have say, the washing machine on every day, baths, showers, and wash their car(s) at the weekend? Certainly, bring these on, together with a revue of the rating system. User pays? B******s!

 

I agree with you about the review of the rating system, but the Manx government has been too scared to address this for decades, so it's unlikely that the current mob would do anything that might offend the well-off.

 

The point about 'user pays' for water though is that costs are not necessarily related to usage. With electricity most of the expense is going to come from the raw materials used to generate it (gas, oil, whatever). With water however all that is free and a lot of the cost will come from the building and maintenance of the infrastructure to collect, store, process, deliver and take away the water. And those costs will be pretty much unconnected with how much water a household uses. (Not to mention that, given that the biggest use of domestic water is flushing the WC, even usage may not be as clear-cut as you think).

 

There will be some costs directly associated with water usage, such as the amounts of chemicals used, electricity for pumping and so on, so it's not clear cut. But I would imagine that a lot of the cost is effectively fixed overheads. There are also arguments for water meters where you want to restrict usage or where there are industries that use a lot of it, but neither of these really apply on the Island. So charging for usage would actually be unfair and varying rates would probably cover the difference in infrastructure support required between large and small properties.

[Burt]

Is the £50 charge going to be levied on properties with their own septic tank and no other connection to the sewerage system?

[asitis]

Little to do with human waste, more to do with Government waste ! Having just received an invoice from government for a service they provide which has gone up 100% in 1 year, it is clear they are stealth taxing everything they can, the crap levy is no different. Government over the past twenty years has driven the island head on into a car crash for which the only real way out is to raise income tax, they know it, we know it ! along with a clear out of non essential staff but all this would amount to an admittance of clear and unambiguous failure something which their egos will not allow them to admit. I for one as a taxpayer and a ratepayer find employing these idiots at vast cost to be an affront to every decent hard working person on the island !

 

rant over.

[Albert Tatlock]

It's the new window, glass, ass tax.

 

Government finances really have reached the bottom now.

 

 

.

Edited January 22, 2014 by Albert Tatlock

[Bradzin]

Does anyone have a link to this with more information and details?

[NoTail]

Maybe the crap tax should be levied on the number of toilets in your property. That way big houses/families (with more crap) would pay more than a small cottage with one toilet. Those on septic tanks should not need to pay at all.

 

TT fans should be given a crap bill when they are on the boat/plane as they are clearly going to add to the crap on the island whilst here.

[andrew]

From the Wasa Facebook page:

 

Statement by the Chairman of the Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority

 

Future Funding of the Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority

 

The Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority is a Statutory Board of the Isle of Man Government and is responsible for the distribution of wholesome drinking water to properties on the Island, the provision of sewage treatment and sewerage systems and it provides an overview on all flood risk management matters on the Island.

 

On 1 April 2010, the Isle of Man Water Authority merged with the Drainage Division of the Department of Transport to form the Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority.

 

The Authority’s operations are currently financed via two separate income streams. The clean water function is funded via income derived through water rates and charges whilst the sewerage and flood risk management functions are funded from general taxation, as approved annually by Tynwald in the Budget.

 

As part of the Government’s budget re-balancing strategy, from 2013/14 there will be a year on year reduction in the revenue grant provided to the Authority. In addition, Treasury will be re-introducing the requirement for the Authority to meet the full cost of its sewerage capital loan repayments together with the interest charges. In order to continue to operate without going into deficit it will be necessary to change the way that these important functions are funded.

 

The Authority has concluded, and the Council of Ministers has agreed, that the only practical solution is to seek Tynwald’s approval for the introduction of a Sewerage Charge, as provided by the Flood Risk Management Act. It is proposed that the Charge will be levied on all properties connected directly or indirectly to a public sewer. At the same time, and to ensure fairness, the Authority will also levy a charge for emptying septic tanks across the Island.

 

In order to ensure a smooth introduction of the Charges, and to give the public time to adjust to the change, a phased transition is proposed.

 

It is proposed the Sewerage Charge will be introduced from 1st April 2014 at £50 per property or apartment per year and this will rise to £100 per property per year from 1st April 2015.

 

It is proposed the charge for emptying a septic tank will be introduced from 1st April 2014 at £50 for each empty and this will rise to £100 per empty per year from 1st April 2015.

 

Following the introduction of the charges, an assessment will be made on their equitability and the affordability for any further increases in future years.

 

The aim of the charging regime is to ultimately produce a financial model which will ensure sufficient income is generated to fund the Authority’s sewerage operations into the future, to further improve the Island’s infrastructure as well as improving the service that it provides to its customers.

 

The implementation of the charges is not connected with the proposed merger between the Authority and the Manx Electricity Authority to form the Manx Utilities Authority. Subject to Tynwald approval, the charges are to be implemented, whether or not the merger takes place.

 

An Order will be brought to Tynwald seeking approval to bring the charges into effect from 1st April 2014.

 

In addition, the Authority will carry out a public consultation exercise on the proposed implementation of a consenting and charging regime for the reception and treatment of trade effluents at the sewage treatment works. These are liquids which are produced at trade or industrial premises and which are often high in volume and biological load and which can have a significant detrimental impact on the sewage treatment processes.

 

The consultation process will be followed by sampling and testing the trade effluents produced at the various trade premises, to accurately determine the flows being discharged to sewer and their effect on the capacity of the sewage treatment works.

 

The Authority, in conjunction with the Department of Economic Development, will then analyse this information and issue discharge consents to the trade premises confirming the flow and load which can be discharged to the public sewer system.

 

The Authority will also consult on the introduction of charges for the reception and treatment of the trade effluents at the sewage treatment works. The charges will have regard to the composition, volume and rate of discharges to sewer and the costs incurred in treating and disposing of the trade effluents.

[Moghrey Mie]

http://www.gov.im/water/sewage/septic_tanks.xml

 

Presumably they've been getting this service cheap (or free) up to now.