Ten of the fourteen sent the return on time. The other four are being charged at their registered bed count until they do, which costs them more than the return would have.
Ten of the fourteen registered guesthouses sent last month's return by the fifth. Four did not, and this notice is the chase rather than a separate letter to each.
What the return is: beds occupied, nights sold and staff living on the island. Three numbers. It can be a message to the office number, a note handed in at the counter, or a word at the jetty desk. It takes two minutes and nobody needs to fill in a form.
Why the council asks for it. It sets the waste rate, which is eight rufiyaa per occupied bed per week. It tells the water planning how many people are actually on the island next month. And it is how the council knows whether two hundred and ten beds is still the right figure to publish, because three properties have added rooms in the last year.
What happens when it does not arrive. It is chased once, which is this notice. After that the waste rate is charged at the full registered bed count for the month, which in every one of the four cases is more than the true occupancy and therefore costs the property money. That is not a penalty invented to punish anybody. It is simply what the council has to assume when it has not been told.
One question we have been asked twice and will answer here. No, the return is not passed to anybody else, and it is not an inspection. The council holds it for the rate and the water figures. The register of properties and the published bed total are public; your monthly occupancy is not, and it is not read out at meetings.
The four will know who they are. The office is open Sunday to Thursday, eight until two, and the jetty desk is there every day until six, so there are twelve chances a week to deal with three numbers.
