KUALA LUMPUR: Assessment rates of local councils have not been reviewed for almost 20 years, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.
Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said this applied across the board, with the exception of the Shah Alam City Council and Kulai Municipal Council, which conducted reviews in 2006 and 2008, respectively.
As a result, the two local councils had managed to raise their revenues, thus allowing them to allocate bigger budgets for municipal services.
"Assessment tax is an issue as the municipal councils are not able to increase the rates as they are subjected to decisions by the state governments.
"When they are short of funds, the state governments will not cover the expenses and the councils would depend on the federal government. Sometimes, state governments would loan money to the councils with interest.
"The Ipoh City Council, for instance, last reviewed its assessment fees 38 years ago in 1982, while the Kuala Terengganu City Council conducted it last review 30 years ago.
"In general, municipal councils have not reviewed their assessment fees for 20 years. How will they be able to carry out their work?
"If the councils are able to review the rates every five years, as provided in the (Local Government) Act, they will be able to carry out developments and make decisions in their areas," she said in reply to a supplementary question by Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin (BN-Rompin).
Zuraida said there are currently 16 local councils which have begun live streaming their full board meetings, with the ministry aiming to assist the others to do so.
"On average, each council needs RM80,000 to establish the live streaming. Local councils, as the third level (tier of) government, should have meetings set up like the parliament sitting, where the public could watch the debates live. This is so that the residents are always updated on the goings-on in the municipalities," she said.
She said the councils currently faced difficulty in accommodating the public in their meetings under Section 23 of the Local Government Act 1976 due to space constraint, as well as being subject to the approval of the respective state governments.