By Bejay Browne
RESIDENTS of Peyia and Tala in Paphos will not be refunded money already paid into the town’s sewerage scheme in an about-face by the board which is now headed up by the new Paphos mayor.
Earlier this year, the interior ministry turned down requests by both villages to exit the scandal-hit Paphos sewerage board (SAPA) project, which brought down disgraced former mayor Savvas Vergas. However, they were granted a five-year tax freeze and those who have already paid their bills were told they would be refunded.
This decision has now been overturned due to a number of legalities, as returning the money could be like ‘opening a can of worms’, according to SAPA board member and Paphos councillor Andreas Chrysanthou.
He explained that neither community has been removed from the project, only postponing tax collection for five years, so this doesn’t mean that they are relieved from this tax. He added that for accounting reasons, people remain on the system and will be billed for taxes, although it isn’t currently collected.
“If someone wants to sell a property, the title deed must be clear of any taxes and sewerage is a form of tax. The title must be clean and paid-up in order to transfer the deed. If we gave back the money to the original owner and the new owner wants to sell they will have a problem.”
Chrysanthou noted that sewerage taxes already collected from both areas already amount to around €380,000. The sewerage bills are based on the value of the properties. The ministry had initially said that the amount to be returned was around €35,000.
The money, he stressed, is ‘safe’ and is being held in an account and there may be a decision to return it in the near future if all of the legalities and red tape can be bypassed.
“The government misinformed people about returning the funds during the time of former mayor Savvas Vergas and ex sewerage board head Eftichios Malekkides. The minister of the interior may have recommended that the money is returned but it’s up to the board if we do so.”
The SAPA board member, which is now headed up by the town’s new mayor Phedonas Phedonos, also said that if the taxes already collected were returned, they would need to charge both Peyia and Tala for their proportion of studies which have been carried out in relation to their part in the project.
He noted, however, that the situation would be far easier and clear cut if they were both completely out of SAPA, and that the money would be returned with no problem.
“As an engineer myself, as well as a councillor, I believe that neither Tala or Peyia should be part of SAPA, they should have their own sewerage system. I believe a feasibility study noted the same thing. It’s not sensible or economic to send waste from St. Georges in Peyia for example, to Achelia where the treatment plant is. This is around 30-35 km of piping.”
Any delays beyond the revised deadline of 2016 could leave Peyia and Tala liable to huge EU fines.
