A City of Cape Town mandated referendum is currently under way, to see if property owners want to establish a City Improvement District (CID) in our neighbourhood.
How to vote:
Click here to vote online. You can do it from a phone but it is easier on a bigger screen.
All you will need is your Erf number.
For the vast majority of property owners, voting will take no more than a few minutes.
For properties owned in a Company, a Trust or other entity, it will take a little longer
but there are clear instructions are on the voting form.
If you would prefer to fill in a printed copy, click here to download.
If you'd like us to email you a copy, contact info@newlandscid.org.
And if you'd like us to deliver one to your home, we can do that too.
If you do only one thing for Newlands this year,
for (or against) the proposed Newlands CID.
For years we have relied on volunteerism and individual generosity to keep our neighbourhood safe and clean. But with the social challenges facing us, that is becoming ever harder to achieve. Establishing a City Improvement District (CID) is a sustainable and equitable way to secure our future.
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All owners of properties inside the area on the map below have the right to vote for, or against, this proposal.
For the CID application to succeed, at least 60% of property owners must vote 'Yes'.
The biggest risk to success is apathy because a 'non-vote' is counted as a 'No' vote.
So, whichever way you want to vote, please take the time to do it. If we miss this chance, it won't come around again soon.
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For the vast majority of property owners, voting will take no more than a few minutes.
All you will need is your Erf number. This is on your rates bill and if you can't find it, let us know and we will find it for you!
For properties owned in a Company, Trust or other entity, it will take a little longer but clear instructions are on the voting form.
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Why become a CID?
Our area delivers a surprising number of critical services on a voluntary basis. This includes community security, parks projects, litter management programmes, etc. For a fuller understanding of what volunteers do behind the scenes in our community, please click here.
Almost all of those volunteer projects are under pressure and without a new funding model some, perhaps many, will eventually fall away. This will have an immediate impact on the public safety and cleanliness of our suburb. That in turn will affect our quality of life and our property values. Now is the time for us to consider alternative models - before we reach that tipping point.
The establishment of a CID, and the financial sustainability it will bring, will not only relieve those pressures, it will deliver supplementary services, over and above those the City and our volunteers currently provide. Community safety, cleansing services, environmental upgrading and social responsibility are the cornerstones of CID's.
What are the costs and benefits?
The costs, benefits and administration of the CID are all laid out in detail in the Business Plan.
Points
Benefits: The benefits of the CID are the Supplementary Services that the CID will deliver. These are explicitly designed to be over-and-above the services that the City is obliged to deliver.
Pages 8 - 26 of the Business Plan describe the proposed supplementary services. They cover four broad areas; Public Safety, Maintenance & Cleansing, Environmental Development and Social Development.
Approximately 83% of the operational budget will be spent on Public Safety.
The neighbourhood will have more security officers, more public safety projects and more cleaning services than it has ever had. Critically, the funding model will make the delivery of these services affordable and sustainable.
Costs: Pages 42-43 of the Business Plan include the five year budget.
The income of the CID will be generated through Additional Rates collected by the City via your rates bill. The calculation for your monthly contribution is:
(Property value on rates bill x R0.000640) / 12
For a home with municipal value of R6,000,000, the monthly amount will be R317 excl. VAT
This works out at 10% of the rates on your current bill (i.e. excluding water, sewerage, refuse, etc).
Administration: The CID will be administered by a newly created, non-profit company whose Directors will be appointed directly by property owners. The budget and operations will be agreed and voted on by local property owners, at the AGM.
The Company will submit monthly financial and operational reports to Directors and the City, as well being subject to annual audits. Because CIDs essentially work with public money, they are very transparent and tightly regulated.
Not sure if your property falls into the proposed CID?
Check the map below and email info@newlandscid.org if you have any questions
