Town Councils owed $71.1m in unpaid rates

Town and city councils across Fiji are owed a total of $71.1 million in unpaid rates as of February this year.

This was revealed in Parliament on Monday by former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Biman Prasad during debate on the review reports of the Tavua Town Council 2019 Annual Report and the Labasa Town Council 2018 Annual Report.

Tavua Town Council alone is owed more than $80,000, while Labasa Town Council is sitting on over $2 million in rate arrears.

“Approximately $71.1 million as of February 2026 is owed in rate arrears. I think more than $80,000 is owed to Tavua Town Council,” Mr Prasad said.

He noted that Tavua has only around 300 ratepayers, making revenue collection extremely difficult.

“Towns and city councils, especially the smaller ones, can only function with government subsidy,” he said.

For Labasa, he said the arrears issue is compounded by growing infrastructure pressures, including traffic congestion, poor drainage and an outdated market, as the town expands as the hub of Vanua Levu.

Minister for Housing and Local Government Maciu Nalumisa told Parliament the Government had already moved to ease the burden on ratepayers by reducing the interest rate on arrears from 11 per cent to five per cent, and changing the calculation method from compound to simple interest to encourage repayment.

He said the Government would continue to subsidise smaller councils through operational and capital budget support.