Peceli Naviticoko 
Aerial view of Tavua Town. [Source: Supplied]
The Rakiraki and Tavua Town Councils are facing some unique challenges in trying to collect overdue rates, says Luke Mataiciwa, the Special Administrators Chair of the two municipalities.
Mataiciwa says for Rakiraki, they are unable to locate a number of their ratepayers, while in Tavua, one person is owing $19, 000 in rates.
He adds that in Tavua, the council officials are trying to solve the case of a ratepayer who has passed on.
“We don’t have much; it’s $25,000 if my calculation is right, and one of those is just one ratepayer who is dead, and he has $19,000, so we are sorting that out; otherwise, that would mean the others will be $6,000, which is quite good.”
Mataiciwa adds that the issue in Rakiraki is that out of the 522 ratepayers, 70 are hard to locate or might have migrated, leaving behind arrears, which they are currently dealing with.
Meanwhile, Savusavu Town Council CEO Seema Dutt says residential ratepayers are lagging behind with a total of $500,000.
“So currently we have arrears of almost $500,000 from the ratepayers, so we are charging general rates, special rates, and garbage fees separately, so most of the arrears that are pending are from residential ratepayers. Most of the commercial ratepayers have paid their rates, but arrears are coming from residential.”
The coalition government has implemented a limited 12-month amnesty on all interest for outstanding municipal residential rates. Phase one of the amnesty came to an end in July, while Phase two will end on December 31st.
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