RESIDENTS URGED TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD ON UIP

Love Hilton needs 55% of the town to consent to become members of the proposed urban improvement precinct (UIP) within the next 30 days.

That was the message from Craig Millar, from Love Hilton, who was addressing residents at a public meeting in the Hilton Town Hall on Saturday morning.

He also stressed the decision on whether to continue with the proposed scheme or to shelve it lay in the hands of ratepayers.

“Hilton residents, in their numbers, will decide,” Millar said. “Either 90% of people will say it’s bull-dust and you guys are completely up the wrong tree and we are not supporting it, or people will come and say, ‘Yes, this is what we want. It’s a great plan. You’ve laid it out, you’ve researched it, let’s do this’.”

If property owners do choose to sign up to the scheme, they will be asked to pay a levy, which will be calculated based on the rates they are currently being billed by the uMngeni Municipality.

With the average property price in Hilton being around R2.7 million, the average levy would be in the region of R180 a month.

Any increase would be based on the annual rates increase recommended by National Treasury. This is usually around 5% to adjust for inflation.

The levy money will be paid over to the UIP by the municipality every month and will be ringfenced to be used only for projects in Hilton, World’s View, Cedara, Mountain Homes and Winterskloof.

The UIP - which will be run by Love Hilton as a section 21 not for profit company - will not extend further than the D494 on the Hilton College Road as most properties in this area are rural agricultural areas and don’t fit into the description of an urban improvement precinct, Millar said.

“What is also important is that, where we have a defined area, we intend putting in supplementary services,” he explained, “so, if we extend it out too far, we will have to put services out there and it becomes less affordable ... we will have to charge more in terms of the levy.”

The money will be used for projects to improve the look and feel of Hilton.

According to the proposed budget, the biggest sum of money, around R2 million, will be used to integrate all the existing community policing structures in the town under one umbrella to ensure their long-term viability.

“All our community safety funding initiatives, whether they be the Community in Blue, the Hilton CSI, the Street Hawks, all have a low buy in, but everyone’s benefiting,” Millar said.

“These guys, who do this on a voluntary basis, are constantly having to go out there, cap in hand, to raise money. Some months they don’t have the money.”

Millar added that the team was also keen to install a camera monitoring centre, which would be staffed 24 hours a day.

The information coming from all the security cameras would be integrated and the information more easily disseminated to Hilton’s security structures, whether they are on the community safety side, or the statutory side, which includes the Community Policing

Forum, the SAPS and the uMngeni Traffic Department.

The UIP would also use the money for beautification projects at intersections in the town, the cutting of verges, the creation of safe walkways for pedestrians, improved commuter facilities, the creation of a garden refuse site and the introduction of facilities to keep children and teenagers in Hilton occupied.

“That goes hand-in-hand with the Hilton Rail and tourism development. There are a number of volunteers and volunteer organisations working on that. We would like to support them in those endeavours,” Millar added.

Residents at the meeting asked how Love Hilton could ensure that the money would be protected and used only in the Hilton area.

Millar explained that, in terms of legislation in the Municipal Property Rates Act, the municipality would find it impossible to keep any levy money.

He added: “We are not legally allowed to spend one red cent outside the UIP zone. That money will be paid to the non-profit company on a monthly basis as agreed in the memorandum and service level agreement signed by Love Hilton and uMngeni.”

Concerns were also raised about the proposed merger of uMngeni Municipality with Mooi-Mpofana and Impendle and how this could impact the UIP.

“Monies that are collected from Hilton ratepayers are ring-fenced to only be spent here in Hilton. I don’t think this [merger] will be successful but, if it is, I would like some way to lessen the impact on us in Hilton,” Millar said.

Residents and ratepayers can go to https://lovehilton.org/ to read about the proposed UIP, the budget and the projects that could be funded.

“Make representations, write to us, tell us what you think,” said Millar. “I think we’ve motivated very well for it [the UIP], but this is the beginning of the process … we have 30 days to get information from you guys and to respond to that.”

Those who wish to consent or object to the scheme can find the necessary form at https://lovehilton.paperform.co/