Your Rates, Your Voice
When rates rise by 95% in three years while inflation holds at just 4.5%, households, pensioners, and businesses simply cannot keep up. Salaries, pensions, and small business revenues grow at inflation levels—not at municipal wish-lists.
Instead of drawing on Mossel Bay’s natural revenue growth from new developments and expanded suburbs, the municipality has leaned on steep hikes, pushing ratepayers into a financial squeeze. This approach is neither fair nor sustainable.
Pegging increases to inflation ensures predictability and fairness. With new suburbs and holiday homes already adding to the revenue base, Mossel Bay can afford to align with inflation without sacrificing service delivery. Ratepayers deserve stability—not the uncertainty of political projects driving their bills higher year after year.
Mossel Bay has historically prided itself on being a financially healthy city. Growth in property developments and limited-use holiday homes brought in strong revenue while keeping rates affordable.
That balance has now shifted. The municipality’s choice to fund capital projects and SDG commitments directly from ratepayer pockets has led to unprecedented hikes. Instead of leveraging external funding or phasing projects, the costs have been passed straight to residents.
We propose a framework to restore balance:
Cap all annual municipal increases at the official inflation midpoint (4.5%).
Require full public consultation and justification for any deviation.
Ensure proper engagement and communications with Rate payers
Stop taxing residents for long-term projects that should be financed sustainably.
South Africa’s inflation targeting policy sets a 3%–6% band, with a midpoint of 4.5%. Yet Mossel Bay has imposed cumulative increases of 95% in just three years. Aligning local rates with national inflation policy would safeguard residents while still funding essential services.
Pensioners, low-income families, and unemployed residents are the hardest hit. They cannot offset sudden hikes with new income. Inflation-linked increases protect these households, ensuring fairness while preventing poverty from deepening in a city that is otherwise thriving.
Communities across South Africa are pushing back against steep hikes. From Cape Town to Johannesburg, the demand is the same: keep increases aligned with inflation. Mossel Bay can lead by example—or risk joining the growing list of municipalities facing public backlash.
Moss Rates calls for all future municipal increases in Mossel Bay to be capped at inflation. Where extraordinary funding is needed, transparent consultation and sustainable financing—not blanket hikes—must be the solution.
Mossel Bay is a wealthy, growing city. With new revenue streams already in place, there is no justification for burdening residents with a cost burden that doubles very three years. By pegging rates and charges to inflation, we can protect households, and keep Mossel Bay’s finances sustainable for the future.