By Sharon Webb

A FAMILY running a honey business in Chudleigh is in court again for non-payment of rates, even after the Meander Valley Council sold their Mole Creek home in 2017 for their refusal to pay rates.

Local councillor John Temple is proposing a creative response should the issue come before the full council again for a decision.

Alida Beerepoot was in the Devonport Magistrates Court on 7 November for the non-payment of rates on two properties.

The case was heard by Magistrate Leanne Topfer who reserved her decision. The outcome date is unknown.

According to Meander Valley Council’s acting general manager, Jonathan Harmey, the Beerepoot family is among ‘a small number’ of rates non-payment cases that have progressed to court.

‘One of those property owners [the Beerepoots] lodged a defence to state that they do not consider they have any responsibility to pay property rates. This is the reason the court proceedings are currently in progress,’ he said

The Chudleigh properties, run by Alida Beerepoot and her adult children Remmo and Fanny, consist of a farm and the Melita Honey shop, both in Chudleigh.

In 2017, accrued rates on these properties were paid by an un-named benefactor, who apparently stated he or she would do this only once.

But the benefactor did not pay rates on the Beerepoots’ 250 square meter home on 2.5 hectares, Blue Wren Hideaway, and Meander Valley Council auctioned it for $120,000 to recoup $3,500 in rates. The family would not pay the rates because they believed the land was ‘owned by God’.

After the council deducted around $15,000 for rates and auction costs, it returned around $105,000 to the Beerepoot family, which they promptly gave back, viewing the auction as a hostile sale with which they wouldn’t collude.

Blue Wren Hideaway has since been sold again.

Cllr Temple believes a better way to handle the situation would be to accept the Beerepoots’ religious grounds for not paying the rates – but to charge compound interest on the amount owing, with the council being the first to be paid out whenever the properties are sold.

Doing that, the council would make a profit on the money owed.

‘This family has a different view on the world,’ Cllr Temple said, emphasising the solution was his personal view

‘I think that long term, the community would not be disadvantaged if the situation were handled differently.

‘Another example would be an elderly pensioner couple wanting to live out their days in their home who can’t afford the rates

‘I wouldn’t like the whole community not to pay their rates but sometimes people need saving from themselves.’ sharon.webb@ meandervalleygazette.com