SANDAKAN – Nearly 100 residents gathered in front of the Sandakan Municipal Council (SMC) office here to express their dissatisfaction with the council’s plan to raise assessment rates, slated to take effect next year.
Among the protesters is 68-year-old Chin Hon Leong, a stationery shop owner in town, who shared his frustration over the proposed rate hike, which would raise his assessment fee from RM639 to over RM2,135, a staggering 260% increase.
“This is absurd. SMC has not even been doing a good job in their services to the people. They don’t cut the grass on time, the town is dirty, it is impossible to issue our complaints because my complaints have been ignored for over a year.
“Now, they (propose to) increase the assessment rate to my shop by more than 200%, why should I pay this when they have not been doing their job properly?” he said here today.
Chin said that he hoped for the SMC to improve its services to the people first before proposing raising their assessment rates.
Elopura assemblyman, Calvin Chong, who was present at the protest, had collected signatures from all those present and submitted the objection memorandum to SMC deputy president Wilson @ Terence Thomas.
He said instead of raising the assessment rate, the SMC should instead focus on collecting the RM40 million worth of outstanding taxes from the people here, saying the sum could be utilised for a lot of matters such as maintenance and upgrading of public facilities and infrastructure.
“As a people’s representative here, I am responsible to represent the people and voice their concerns. It is not that the SMC should not raise the assessment rate but now is really not the time.
“The people are still struggling with the stagnant economy in Sandakan, prices of goods are expected to hike again,” he said.
Gum Gum assemblyman Arunarnsin Taib, who also attended the protest, said that he was not there to oppose the SMC’s proposal, but to plead for the SMC to consider postponing implementing it.
“I don’t object to the proposal; I understand that the SMC needs to collect funds to execute projects and so on. However, I hope that they would consider postponing it and collect the RM40 million outstanding taxes from the people instead,” he said.
Last week, leaders from both sides of the political divide here issued statements objecting the SMC’s proposal to raise the assessment rates for residential and commercial properties in the district.
On August 14, the SMC issued a notice of the rateable property valuation list for 2024.
The notice also stated that today (October 2) is the deadline for individuals who wish to file objections regarding any annual value. They must submit their objections in writing to SMC president, Henry Idol.
Scoop is still waiting for an update from the SMC on the number of notices that it has received to date. – October 2, 2023