Bills arrive for 39,000 Lisburn ratepayers

The Land & Property Services (LPS), the Government Agency responsible for collecting rates, says the bill shows the amount owed for the billing period 2010/11 as well as any debt carried forward from previous years.

An LPS spokesperson said: "There are 38,519 ratepayers in Lisburn City Council area and through the payment of their rates they have helped to fund the provision of a number of public services.

"In fact, since 2006/07 alone over 219million has been collected in the Lisburn area.

"This money has been invested in vital public services such as healthcare, education and roads as well as helping to fund a number of council services including recreational facilities, bin collection, tourism and local events."

The Chairman of Lisburn City Council's Corporate Services Committee, Councillor Paul Givan, said: "The rates increase in Lisburn is below the rate of inflation for the fifth consecutive year and we have the second lowest district rates across the 26 Councils in Northern Ireland.

"We are committed to providing cost-effective high-quality services to our ratepayers. Our focus too is to ensure the progression and promotion of the City area and this is evident through our capital developments programme and regeneration schemes such as the Lisburn City Centre Masterplan, the Colin Gateway Improvement scheme and the Rural Development programme.

"Our focus remains to invest in our community."

The LPS spokesperson continued: "This year's bill has been redesigned to make it more user friendly and to allow ratepayers to see the most important information at a glance. A new booklet has also been produced which will be issued to all ratepayers with their bill.

"We would encourage everyone to read this booklet carefully as it contains a lot of useful information about how their bill is calculated, methods of payment, how to get help with paying your rates, as well as, answers to a number of frequently asked questions."

Responding to customer feedback ratepayers also have for the first time the option of paying their bill online. Full details on all payment methods are included in the booklet all ratepayers will receive with their bill.