Minister for Local Government, Premila Kumar says that most of the municipal councils will be carrying out the valuation exercise this year so that they can fix new rates for towns and cities.
Kumar says it is a requirement under the Local Government Act that this valuation exercise must be undertaken every six years and she knows there are municipal councils who undertook this valuation exercise.
Kumar says the Nadi Town Council did the valuation exercise in 2017 but did not introduce new rates.
She has also told the Special Administrators and Chief Executive Officers of municipal councils to have ratepayers forums and they need to present their budget with facts and figures to the ratepayers so that they can see the financial position of each municipality and understand why valuation exercises are conducted or why in some cases the fee needs to be increased.
Kumar says ratepayers are currently paying 2 cents for every garbage collection made in Suva.
Meanwhile, the Suva City Council says all fees and charges remain the same as last year and their ratepayers will not have to pay anything extra this year for services provided by the Council.
The Chairman of the Suva City Council, Isikeli Tikoduadua has told Legend FM News that they have decided not to increase any fees and charges this year.
He says garbage collection fees will remain $25 (VEP).
When questioned if fees and charges will be reviewed later this year, the Council says they do not want to speculate on this.
