Water Charges to be Added to Rates Bills

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday October 10, 2007 19:14 by Aquarius

Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy supports adding Water Charges to Rates

In Northern Ireland the Water Charges are likely to be added to rates bills. This is an attempt by the NI Executive to cut across Non-payment of Water Charges.

Plans were leaked over the weekend and now it is confirmed that Conor Murphy (Sinn Féin Regional Development Minister) will welcome the recommendation to add water chrages to the Rates bills of householders this Friday.

It is proposed that the Water Charges will be listed as an item in the 2008 rates bill for householders. It will amount to £160 per year. In future bills the Water Charge will increase and will also be linked to property values. As part of the recommendations there will also be some minor reforms of how the Water Service operates to cut costs.

This move by Conor Murphy's Department is designed to attack non-payment of Water Charges. Previous plans involved a separate bill. With the charge being added to rates it makes non-payment a criminal offence and it makes it more difficult for people with Direct Debit mandates to not pay their water charge in protest.

In a surprising move Eamon McCann of the Socialist Workers' Party welcomed the changes arguing that £160 is lower then expected.