I write in response to the article that urged for the ‘dumping’ of the Connétables. It would seem that Mr Dun’s primary argument for the ‘dumping’ of the Connétables, is the ‘saving’ of £600,000 of taxpayers’ money.
I would ask your readers to put this into perspective, and to not accept, at face value, the rather limited ‘analysis’. There is currently a Green Paper discussing the possibility of replacing our Parish Rates System with a Domestic Property Tax. In the accompanying Report by PWC, it is stated on page 46 that should such a tax replace our Parish Rates system, “an increase … beyond the current level would be achievable over a number of years”. Indeed the Report goes on to suggest that should the proposed tax rise to the same level as the United Kingdom, the tax would generate an extra £32.5 million per annum.
£32.5 million, every year.
Make no mistake that should the electorate decide to remove the Connétables on October 15, there will be no parochial representatives (whose duty it is to represent their Parish, in the same way that Ministers represent their Departments) to stop the Council of Ministers from introducing measures such as these.
The Domestic Property Tax, although poignant, is not the sole financial consequence of the removal of the Connétables. If we were to remove the Connétables, and subsequently finance them through each Parish, what is to stop every role in the municipality being paid? Why should one be remunerated, and not another one?
Let us look further down the line, and what is to stop an Assembly, (without the Connétables) deciding that it would be more efficient to have one centralised system of administration, and one police force?
The answer is nothing.
Make no mistake about it, the Referendum on October 15 is much more than whether the salary of the Connétables are paid by Islanders at large, or by parishioners, and the importance of the Referendum should not be trivialised as such. Islanders need to think long and hard about the potential ramifications that would occur should the Connétables be removed from the States Assembly.
I would ask your readers to put this into perspective, and to not accept, at face value, the rather limited ‘analysis’. There is currently a Green Paper discussing the possibility of replacing our Parish Rates System with a Domestic Property Tax. In the accompanying Report by PWC, it is stated on page 46 that should such a tax replace our Parish Rates system, “an increase … beyond the current level would be achievable over a number of years”. Indeed the Report goes on to suggest that should the proposed tax rise to the same level as the United Kingdom, the tax would generate an extra £32.5 million per annum.
£32.5 million, every year.
Make no mistake that should the electorate decide to remove the Connétables on October 15, there will be no parochial representatives (whose duty it is to represent their Parish, in the same way that Ministers represent their Departments) to stop the Council of Ministers from introducing measures such as these.
The Domestic Property Tax, although poignant, is not the sole financial consequence of the removal of the Connétables. If we were to remove the Connétables, and subsequently finance them through each Parish, what is to stop every role in the municipality being paid? Why should one be remunerated, and not another one?
Let us look further down the line, and what is to stop an Assembly, (without the Connétables) deciding that it would be more efficient to have one centralised system of administration, and one police force?
The answer is nothing.
Make no mistake about it, the Referendum on October 15 is much more than whether the salary of the Connétables are paid by Islanders at large, or by parishioners, and the importance of the Referendum should not be trivialised as such. Islanders need to think long and hard about the potential ramifications that would occur should the Connétables be removed from the States Assembly.