CMC initiates rewards scheme:

Royal treatment for loyal ratepayers

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

Living in a clean and well developed city may be the dream of many a citizen whatever the city they live in at present. Colombo being the most populated city in Sri Lanka the demand for facilities in Colombo is at the higher level. The authorities are committed to make that dream a reality, but it is always subjected to the condition of the rates paid by the citizen in that city.

Therefore, payment of rates play a vital role in the Colombo city in its journey towards becoming the model city of Asia. For the Colombo city administrators the ratepayers are the key factor, as the main source of income of the Colombo Municipal Council amounting to Rs. 3,080 million revenue comes in the form of ratepayers money.

As these ratepayers are playing the key role, in the form of being the main source of income, the CMC is going to organise a ceremony to appreciate them for their regular payment of rates on September 28 at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo under the theme "Royal Treatment for Loyal Ratepayers".

"For us in the CMC Municipal taxes are the main source of income to serve its citizen. There are institutions which are paying a huge sum as rate money for the CMC and we are hoping to encourage these ratepayers by honouring them at a function and giving them a privilege card as a token of appreciation for their regular payment of rates to the Municipal Council", Colombo Mayor M.J.M. Muzammil told the Sunday Observer.

"This is something like what the Banks do to treat their best customers. We also thought of giving recognition to our ratepayers who have paid their rates on time", he added.

Commissioner of the CMC Badrani Jayawardena said the program was first initiated in 2010 and this year it will happen on a grand scale to encourage the ratepayers to pay their rates on time, without delaying."If the citizen needs a better city they need to pay their rate money on time and we are here to appreciate their service by giving them recognition when they enjoy the services from the CMC. If people are paying their rates we will be able to create a better city for them and show Colombo as the model city in the country", she added.

CMC Treasurer, K.D. Chitrapala

Treasurer of the CMC, K.D. Chitrapala said that they have selected 100 ratepayers to be honoured on September 28 by providing them a privilege card to enjoy priority treatment from the CMC."We have selected them among the thousands of ratepayers considering their regular payment of rates for the past five years and enjoyed the discounts given by the CMC for making the payment on due date", he added.

"We have more than 300 such ratepayers who have paid their rates on the due date, we are getting 100 of them at the initial stage and will expand the facility at the next steps", he added.

These loyal ratepayers will be honoured by one of them being invited to hoist the National Flag on the first working day of the month and hosting them to a tea party with the Mayor."We are giving them an electronic card embedded with all the facilities they can enjoy from the CMC", he added.

Free parking at CMC approved parking lots, permission to park vehicles inside the Town Hall premises when attending the Town Hall for service, special counters for taxes and rate payments, priority at all Municipal services and poly clinic at Slave Island, on appointment treatment at CMC Panchakarma Ayurvedic Centre at Kollupitiya, special care at the Customer Care counter at Town Hall are some of the benefits that they can enjoy.

He said there are 240,000 properties within the Colombo Municipal Council area registered for rate payments and the budgeted revenue from them are Rs. 3,080 million.

"We are selecting these beneficiaries from the ratepayers who had enjoyed the discounts for their payments after paying their taxes on due date for the past five years.

There are individuals and institutions among them and we are not considering the amount they pay to the CMC as rates, but their loyalty when paying their rates", he said.

Chitrapala said that there are institutions which have not paid their rates for the past 30 years and the outstanding rates from them amounts to more than Rs. 1.5 billion.

He pointed out that most of the government institutions have not paid their rates for the past ten to 20 years. Port Authority, Coorporative Wholesale Establishment, Lanka Tractor Company, Lanka Fertiliser Company, housing schemes of the Urban Development Authority and the National Housing Development Authority, Railway Department and the Police are among such institutions which have not paid their rates to the CMC.

"I have already sent letters to these institutions and summoned them to the Municipal Council. Some of them have agreed to pay the current rates but not the outstanding amounts. Therefore we are seeking legal advice from the Attorney General's Department to take action against the government institutions not paying the rates", he added.

He also said that CMC has issued notices to vest the private properties for those who have not paid the rates for long period.

"We have issued notices in May indicating the properties that are going to be seized and there was a huge response for that notice and some of them paid the full outstanding amount and some of them paid more than 50 percent and requested more time to pay the balance amount. So through such programs we are getting all the outstanding rates to the CMC", he added.

According to the law, the CMC can auction those properties in public and charge the due amount for the CMC and release the balance payment to the owner."What we intend is only to get our rate money and not to take the properties.

Therefore we encourage people to pay their rates on time without any delay and get royal treatment for their loyalty from the CMC", he said.