LETTER TO THE EDITOR AT THE EXAMINER
RATES: THERE has been a motion (14.2) dated May 23, 2016 put forward to the Launceston City Council by Alderman Hugh McKenzie supported by the general manager Robert Dobrzynski and corporate service director Michael Tidey stating “rating of residential properties owned by charitable organisations” is to be reviewed. Their objective is to collect council general rates from elderly individuals living independently in not for profit retirement villages. Their main argument is that residents who are living in private homes are bearing the rate burden.
I refute this argument. Retirement villages charge their residents a weekly “service fee” which covers refuse collection, lighting, roads, footpaths, upkeep of community areas including pools and exercise facilities, libraries etc, wages of maintenance and garden workers, water and sewerage rates. Therefore the use of council facilities by retirement village residents are in most cases limited to the facilitation of the purchase of personal necessities such as food, clothing etc all of which supports the local economy and although we have no problem with the council providing bicycle lanes,
playgrounds, subsidising sports centres, propping up the Aquatic Centre or even granting $5 million of council land to UTAS (who do not pay rates), we feel that as we have been full ratepayers for most of our lives we should continue to be exempt from the general rate.
Generally individuals in retirement villages have sold their homes in order to enter the villages and are now regarded as leaseholders. Consequently there are limitations of the use of the property they occupy, for example they are unable to use the property as collateral for loans and they do not have the authority to make structural changes. Also as deemed as leaseholders those who are pensioners or part pensions are not entitled to any rate remissions. The gentlemen mentioned above should be ashamed of themselves for attempting to target the elderly and vulnerable in this manner and I appeal to the Launceston City Council not to pass this motion.
Re the proposal to give ratepayers' land for free to the university to move to and re the proposal itself. We are less than impressed with the general manager, Robert Dobrzynski's responses to submissions submitted for the Public Meeting if 21 June 2016. For example, where submissions expressed concerns at the land being gifted to the university, he simply states "The contribution of the land does not involve any direct cash outlay by the Council". His responses to all the concerns in the 22 submissions are as equally inadequate as that response, and as such, are insulting to all Tasmanian citizens.
ReplyDeleteOn Sunday 7 August 2016 from 10 am to 3 pm, the university of Tasmania is holding its Open Day for all of its campuses at once. (It is not possible to visit each campus on an open day. Other universities such as Deakin hold open days for their campuses on different days so that it is possible to visit each of those campuses on an open day.)
PHOTO COMPETITION:
If you are out Mowbray-Newnham area anytime over the next two weeks from today, check out the wonderful university campus there and maybe take a few photos around the campus.
You can check out Open Day at the Newnham-Mowbray campus and surrounds and the things that make it a special place. Or check it out at other times and start sending in those photos.
Upload your shots to Speak Up Launceston Facebook page to share and to enter in the competition. Themes are 'Look at our uni at Newnham', 'Love our Uni at Newnham' and 'Keep our Uni at Newnham'.
Some general ideas that might inpsire you around the Newnham campus could be the open spaces, the landscaping, the scenery looking across the Tamar River and down the Tamar valley, aspects of student life and multiculturalism on campus, student facilities, sporting activities, architecture, heritage and tradition.
There are three sections - Primary School, Secondary School and Open. See the Speak Up Launceston Facebook page for details. Start clicking and enter the competition to show that any proposal to move the campus from Newnham is wasteful, irresponsible and unnecessary!
Liaison officer for L'ton Businesses, Academics and Associates and Friends.