Ho, April 22, GNA - The Ho Municipal Assembly says property rates in the=

Municipality are to be increased and the range will be between 50.00 Ghan= a cedis to 600.00 per annum.

The Assembly gave the notice during the discussion of its Executive Committee report at its sitting on Thursday.

The Assembly said property owners in the Municipality have not been payi= ng property rates for a long time and it was time to change the situation in=

conformity with its municipal status. Mr Ephraim Akoni, a member of the Assembly's Finance and Administration sub-committee, told the Ghana News Agency that the last valuation of properties in Ho was in 1997.

He said the Land Valuation Board was undertaking another valuation exerc= ise which is expected to prescribe realistic property rates in the municipali= ty. The Assembly also expressed concern about the alleged failure of Heads o= f Senior High Schools to pay proceeds from the education levy of one Ghana cedi per student per year to the Assembly. The Assembly said it was untenable for the Heads of Schools to withhold those proceeds from the Assembly because the Assembly needed such revenue= to be able to finance education related activities and projects in the municipality. The Heads could be subjected to administrative sanctions for failing to pay the proceeds into the Assembly's designated account, Mr Delali Nutsukpo, a member of the Assembly said.

The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Isaac Kodobisah, said public education=

was necessary to prepare the minds of property owners to the new reality. He said the Assembly should be able to raise enough money to finance its=

recurrent expenditure with substantial reserves to finance its projects. Mr Prosper Afenyo, the Municipal Budget Analyst told the GNA in an interview that property rates are not based solely on the cost of the property such as building.

He said for example a three storey building in a slum area would not attract the same property rate as a three-storey building built at the sa= me cost but in a plush residential area.

He said factors such as quality of access roads, utilities, recreational=

facilities and others were taken into consideration in determining the property rate to be charged.

A pensioner who is member of the Assembly told the GNA that the pension= ers would be hard hit in paying the new rates. He said it took him his entire working life to build a self-contained ho= use on which he would have to pay 600.00 Ghana cedis annually as property rat= e.