THE Portmore municipality says it is losing out on collecting much-needed property tax from homeowners as a result of some housing schemes not being listed on the tax roll.

Chief Administrative Manager Kerry Chambers said this was only recently discovered by the municipality, and steps are being taken to correct the error.

“It is something that was brought to our attention very recently and we need to investigate as to what exactly is happening,” she said.

She cited the example of Morris Meadows where, although the lots have been sub-divided and residents presented with titles, they are yet to be added to the tax roll, years after occupying the property.

This, she said, has resulted in their properties not being assessed.

“Some people have come in willingly to try and sort it out, but I think it is a problem that stems from some communication or process from Land Valuation,” Chambers said.

She was, however, unable to say just how much money the municipality was losing.

Chambers, Portmore Mayor George Lee, and Deputy Mayor Leon Thomas were guests at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange held at the newspaper’s head offices in Kingston.

She further explained that when a sub-division is approved, all relevant agencies, including the Land Valuation department, would get a copy of the sub-division plan. Following this, a valuation number would be generated for each property owner, and this is how the tax would be assessed.

“So even though these schemes are sub-divided and persons get their titles, some persons don’t pay taxes for years, because they were never assessed,” she said, adding that there are at least two or three schemes in the municipality which fall in this category.

As part of the step to address this problem, Chambers said the municipality has increased personnel at the tax office to assist people who have voluntarily come in to sort out the issue.

“But it is something we have to work on with the other agencies, such as Land Valuation,” she added.

Meanwhile, Chambers said the municipality was able to meet its target for the collection of property tax at the end of the last financial year in March, raking in some $221 million. This, she said, represents more than 80 per cent compliance in the city, which is said to have the largest number of tertiary graduates.

She noted, however, that it is yet to be seen what implications the recent increases in property tax, some as high as 160 per cent, will have on this year’s collection.

“What is affecting us now is the new rates,” she said. “We were very happy to have met our targets but we will have to put in more effort with the increased rates of over 160 per cent.”

As such, she said the municipality has three in-house clerks processing property tax at the Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) office in Portmore. Two compliance officers are also stationed there.

“We have two compliance officers who will actually go throughout Portmore and try to increase the compliance rate and also deal with issues that exist,” she said.

She noted further that there are some issues to be dealt with in the system such as Government lands which have come up on the tax roll for payment.

“What needs to be done is to clearly identify these lands and take them off the system so they would not be a part of the target, and that is one of the challenges that we are working towards correcting,” she said.

Chambers said allowances have also been made for churches to get concessions, although steps have been taken to collect from them where necessary.

In the meantime, Mayor Lee said although the municipality has met its target, most of the property tax has been going towards paying for street lights and collection of solid waste.

This, he said, means that there is less money to go towards community development programmes.

“In fact, the amount we get that can do community programmes like beautification has been cut in half. It used to be 10 per cent, now it’s five per cent, so it is not on the cards that we will get much more for community development,” Lee said.

The municipality said there are plans to establish three other housing schemes in Hellshire.