Parish rates rises 'necessary' to remain sustainable

The chair of the constables committee has said that "it's important parishes put rates up when necessary".

Andy Jehan said parishes face "different challenges", but they needed to "make sure that they're sustainable".

Parish rates pay for things like bin collections, maintenance of byroads and churches, as well as the honorary police.

The majority of parishes have published their rates for the coming year, with St Lawrence currently seeing the biggest increase at 12%.

The total each persons pays their parish each year is divided between a central government pot to fund general expenditure, and another pot that stays within the parish to pay for things like bin collections and general upkeep.

Parishioners have a say on the latter figure, with each constable holding a Rates Assembly, where local residents can question any changes.

Grouville is the only parish yet to set its rate for the year.

In the majority of places, rates are being increased by less than 5%, with no change at all in some parishes.

In St Lawrence, this year's rate has increased by 12%.

In its annual accounts, the parish cited "increasing costs" and a need to replenish its fund for the maintenance of buildings.

In St John, rates have been frozen for the year, and Jehan said "significant savings" had been found by contracting the parish of St Helier to take on its bin collections.

Jehan has overseen increases in the past though, and said "it's important that parishes do put up their rates when necessary".

"You're better to have little and often rather than a big hike in your rates, but parishes need to make sure that they're sustainable, and some parishes will find different challenges," he said.

He said allowing parishioners to have their say was "democracy in its rawest form" and "maintaining the independence of the 12 parishes is vital".

A recent review of Jersey's parish system had praised its traditions but concluded some parts were outdated and needed to change.

Rates in St Brelade have increased by just over 3%.

Constable Steve Pallet said he wanted to keep them as low as possible, but they needed to rise in order to cover "ongoing costs", such as the revamp of the Elephant Park, which will also draw on reserves.

"Property and roads are the two things we're going to have to concentrate on and make sure we get right, otherwise we'll have no choice but to raise rates and I don't really want to do that unless I have to," he said.

He said the parish was fortunate to have reserves that could be used to avoid significant rate rises in years where more expenditure was needed.

He feels the system of setting parish rates remains the best fit for the island.

"It brings democracy down to a much lower level where people have a chance to comment and contribute... about what they want money spent on and what they don't want it spent on," he said.

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