THOUSANDS of Islanders in Grouville will have their rates reviewed amid rising discontent about the way the parish is handling its finances.
Rates assessors from across Jersey are to be posted to Grouville, which Constable Mark Labey said was “to help the parish get through the autumn”.
The parish – which was the last by several months to finalise its rates in both 2022 and 2023 – currently has the highest rates in Jersey.
And the number of appeals from Grouville to the Rate Appeal Board is almost five times higher this year compared to 2023, with 13 individuals lodging appeals relating to 14 different properties.
Last year, all three appeals to the board – the only ones in the Island – were upheld, meaning that ratepayers might have been paying a disproportionately high contribution to the Islandwide rate compared to the other 11 parishes.
Some 2,400 properties are to be re-examined as part of the review being carried out with the support of the Rate Supervisory Committee, the 12 Constables sitting “to encourage and promote uniformity in rateable values throughout Jersey”.
The review follows concerns by parishioners that the approach in Grouville means they are paying more than they should to the Islandwide rate, which funds the welfare system.
In June, one Grouville resident, former States Member Jennifer Bridge, wrote to the Rate Supervisory Committee asking for “an Islandwide methodology for calculating rates”.
“We’re a very small island, so it seems really odd that each parish has a different way of calculating rates,” Miss Bridge said.
Mr Labey defended his approach to parish rates and criticised those who he said were “trying to make life as difficult as possible”.
“I am trying to modernise everything and to bring the parish into the 21st century. Our rates assessors are volunteers and they don’t need this grief,” he added.
Grouville resident Peter Hargreaves welcomed the forthcoming review but said that the parish was “seriously out of line” in its approach, citing the fact that there had so far been 47 requests for a review of assessment in the parish compared with fewer than five across the Island. He added: “This raises questions about the position of the existing rates assessors.”
Fellow ratepayer Mark Houzé also welcomed the review, saying he was pleased that the Constable had recognised that there was an issue and that it was parish-wide but adding: “I would hope that it will be reviewed in a similar way to the other parishes but that is not possible under the current guidelines issued earlier this year.”
Rates
Rates are calculated independently for each parish, with the assessment for each household then multiplied by a charge agreed by a parish assembly, so that the total covers the cost of administering the parish concerned.
While those costs remain fixed, these individual assessments affect the contribution made to the Islandwide rate, leading to charges of unfairness in Grouville.
