At the 2014 Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) budget dialogue in October 2013, the mayor said DBKL is in the midst of reviewing the quit rent rates for properties in the city and the new rates are expected to take effect on Jan 1, 2014.

He also said DBKL had received the mandate from the Federal Territories minister to re-evaluate the rates. He went on to say it was up to DBKL to decide on the rates, which would be dependent on the outcome of the review conducted by DBKL and the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) under the Finance Ministry.

Now the mayor has confirmed that the assessment rates hike in January 2014 for KL residents will proceed as planned but with some variations. Separately, the minister said the proposed quit rent rates will remain at 6 percent and only the land value rates will be reviewed.

Between the mayor and the minister, I am not sure whether the word rate has the same meaning. The latter gave the mandate to DBKL to re-evaluate the rates and I believe it is not valuation. I guess the mayor has taken it upon himself during the review to do a valuation.

My respect to the mayor for being firm to say that the objection date is final and he would reconsider the quantum of the assessment with its panel of advisers i.e. either the lowering of the valuation of the property or the rates to ease the burden of homeowners. We understand DBKL is allowed under the laws to increase assessment rates up to 35 percent.

But why reconsider lowering the valuation where the mandate was to only review the rates? By the way, property prices are determined by supply and demand.

It is interesting to see how DBKL is going to go through individual letters of complain unless DBKL assumed there will not be many. I would propose the respective resident associations to write to DBKL and include all the complaints from individuals.

Let us go back in time.

For 2013, DBKL announced a higher budget compared to 2012. In spite of this, city dwellers were assured that there will be no increase in assessment rates because of an increase in revenue from collection of assessment rates due to the increase in the number of properties and boost in development projects in the Federal capital. The mayor added that assessment tax collection saw an increase of 8.6 percent from the RM810.53mil from the previous year.

For the record, DBKL’s strategic plan was the same for both 2012 and 2013. It focused on five objectives - namely City For The People, Economic Prosperity, Connected City, Eco City and Good Governance.

For the 2011 budget, the then-mayor said DBKL would not raise the assessment rate since it was in a good financial position. On the contrary from Jan 1, 2011, DBKL would reduce the assessment rate for service apartments and apartments in commercial buildings by 2 percent, he added.

Has the financial position become worse?

Let us come back to present day.

Has the financial position of DBKL deteriorated within a year to such an extent that it needs a boost in income of up to more than 200 percent? I do not believe the costs of providing its services has increased to such an extent.

Has DBKL and its advisers looked at how to improve efficiency and reduce wastages? Were there any visible improvement to public amenities and services? In my housing estate, the roads have not been properly resurfaced and there have been numerous potholes since 2008, and we have to chase to get the trees pruned.

Retirees have also strongly voiced out their concerns. I would like to add a few here. Being unemployed and a non-government retiree myself, I do not receive monthly pensions. I was thinking to take it easy after retirement but the following has created unnecessary worries on me and my family.

My property has dropped in value by about 35 percent due to the MRT passing about 9 metres in front of my house. Petrol prices has gone up and would go up even higher. Now a 280 percent increase in quit rent. Next will be electricity. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is now a sure thing to come. Hints of a 12-year car age cap are very strong in the air.

My wish and hope is for the various ministries/authorities to have proper coordination and have intelligent discussions among themselves on the plight of various sections of the society and not make decisions in isolation. I also hope it is not this key performance indicator (KPI) thing that is leading the authorities to live in silos.