Funding

Local government finance comes from several sources.
Local councils obtain their income from:

• rates
• government grants
• fees and charges for certain services
• loans

District Council Rates
Councils are legally required to strike the district rates (the domestic rate and the non-domestic district rate) no later than 15 February each year. The level of rates will be estimated in order to adequately meet the financial needs in the next financial year.

The collection of the district rates is carried out by the Land and Property Services (part of the Department of Finance and Personnel).

Details of the 2011/2012 District Council rates .were released on Tuesday 15th February 2011 with the accompanying press release

Grants
Government grants consist of:

• the General Grant paid by the Department of the Environment (DOE); both to compensate councils for the loss of rate income due to the statutory derating (lowering of rates) of certain property (called the ‘derating element’) and to provide extra financial resources for those councils whose needs exceed their wealth base (called the ‘resources element’)
• specific grants paid by government departments; these help with the financing of certain revenue and capital expenditure

Loans
Subject to the approval of the DOE, loans may be raised by councils to help the financing and funding of capital projects.