Objection to DBKL 2014 assessment - conclusion of the hearing

There was much fiasco when DBKL announced the increase in the annual value of the property hence increasing the annual amount payable for assessment for 2014.

Naturally I objected and wrote in a letter together with the rest of the residents of Mutiara Bukit Jalil.

We received letters from DBKL of our hearing on 6 January 2014 @ 1015am but some of us were late (myself included) hence there were 2 batches of people who attended the hearing today.

We were ushered in meeting room 1 with 6 DBKL staffs seated on the opposite side and the gist of the meeting were:-

1) DBKL are aware that:-
a) our area is relatively new - 5 years for phase 1
b) 90% of residents are the owners.. not renting
c) we are not satisfied with the services provided in terms of street lights, drain cleaning, road repair, cutting of grass and stray dogs problem.
d) plus there is a cement plant nearby (less than 50m) which operates until 10pm.

2) DBKL did cite rise of costs for example:-
a) Alam Flora per trip has increased from RM20plus to RM30plus and is due to increase to RM40plus per trip
b) cost of cutting grass has also doubled
c) electric tariffs is due to increase and therefore translate to higher costs to DBKL to provide the street lights

3) we raise the fact that DBKL must be more efficient in their work but DBKL countered that this is not the jurisdiction of the group in the meeting plus this is not the subject of today's hearing.

4) as an incentive to the KL folks, the mayor has announced an subsidy (subject to application) for people with disability, retirees and owners staying in their own premise. But note this incentive is only for year 2014.

5) for premise which are unoccupied, then the owner must write in with proof (example utilities bills) for reduction or waiver of the assessment fee.

6) there was a staff (whom I find quite snobbish) who mentioned that under the local authority act, DBKL have the right to:-
a) charge any rate subject to a maximum of 35%
b) review the above % rate every 5 years
c) review the annual value (RM) every year
but DBKL has been gracious not to do so but charge only 6% for more than 20 years.

If you look at the letter informing of the hearing date, it mentioned that the rate will be lowered to 4% but again this rate is applicable for 2014 only.

So who knows what will happen after 2014..

7) DBKL mentioned that this rise in assessment has been in their agenda for the past year and therefore has nothing to do with GE13 (General Election 2013) and it was just bad luck that it announced concurrently with so many other increase in living costs.

ANYWAY IN CONCLUSION, there are a total of 166,000 objections (so few or did I hear wrongly??) and it will take DBKL until March 2014 to hear all the objections before they can give a final verdict.

So we will just have to wait till then for us to know if our efforts in objection and attending the hearing will pay off.