Why can’t the CID contribution be a fixed amount, that all residential property owners pay, instead of linked to property value?

Firstly and most importantly, the municipal legislation doesn’t allow for the CID to charge a fixed amount per property. It must be linked to municipal property value in exactly the same way as normal rates.

Even if it were allowed, over 50% of properties would pay more than they do under a valuation model, and this burden would fall on the lowest valued properties, which would be highly regressive.

Furthermore, a CID is expected to boost property values relative to what they would be without a CID, reflecting the reality that Camps Bay will be a cleaner, safer place to live, and therefore in greater demand at a time when low crime is a critical component of quality of life in South Africa.

A rise in property values obviously benefits highly valued properties the most. For a 10% rise, a R9m property would see added value of R900k, while a R25m properties would see added value of R2.5m. It is therefore logical that a higher valued property would be willing to pay a higher CID contribution in absolute terms. The CID contribution is equivalent to roughly 0.1% of property value, far less than the value a CID would be expected to add. On this basis alone, a CID should be worth supporting.

This is one of the reasons why an overwhelming majority of property owners of the most highly valued properties in Camps Bay support a CID contribution based on a valuation model, despite the fact that they will pay the highest amounts in absolute terms.

But to reiterate, the legislation does not in any case permit us to use any other model.