INDEPENDENT retirement home residents could be forced to pay rates on their properties from 2017 after years of being exempt from doing so.
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The move comes as councils statewide agreed to applying general rates and fire service levies to independent living units within retirement villages.
Hobart and Clarence councils have already agreed to apply the full general rate from this month.
City of Launceston aldermen this Monday will decide on whether the council should remove rate remissions and transition to forcing payment of a full general rate by 2024-25.
Under the proposal, residents would be exempt from paying rates this financial year but would start doing so in 2017-18 with a 70 per cent remission.
The remission rate would decrease by 10 per cent each subsequent year until a full rate is imposed.
The council will also decide on whether to levy fire service rates on retirement units.
Aldermen last month deferred a decision on that charge, prompted by concerns over a perceived lack of community consultation.
The move would have raised $100,000 for the 2016-17 financial year.
A retirement unit with a capital value of $250,000 would attract $1458 in rates if both charges are implemented.
A council report notes that for many years it had been standard practice to treat retirement homes as exempt from rates though this did not accord with the Local Government Act which determined when exemptions applied.
Glenara Lakes Residents Association president Tony McCormack said that the new charges would impact on self-funded retirees who were generally experiencing decreasing income in the current economic environment.
Dr McCormack submitted a petition of 60 signatures urging the council not to proceed with the changes.
A submission from Allan Miller states that residents were generally of the belief that council rates and taxes were included in their monthly maintenance bill.