Integrated GIS-Database for effective property rate collection and management-A case study

Abstract

The potential of property rate as a source of revenue has least been realised by most local assemblies/municipalities in Ghana. Thus, local assemblies turn to depend more on the central common fund for developmental projects and provision of services for the citizens. In this study, a geodatabase was created to facilitate effective collection and management of property rate for the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality. Questionnaires were administered to gather data on immovable properties and their owners in the study area. Spatial data was acquired using Garmin handheld GPS receivers. An entity relational (ER) model was developed from which a database was created in Microsoft Access and then integrated into ArcGIS geodatabase. This technique was adopted to allow incorporation of user-defined data model into the ArcGIS schema that hosts the final database. The results revealed that out of 100 buildings used for the purpose of this study, 51 building owners were found to have defaulted in the payment of their property rate for 2016, and 49 owners have fulfilled their property rate obligations. Querying the system displays building owners’ information that could be used to track or notify property rate defaulters. This study clearly shows that an integrated GIS-Database could help provide a more efficient collection, tracking and management of property rate revenue. Findings of the study confirms the fact that property rate payment is generally low in the country; less than 50% of building owners usually pay their property rates to the assembly yearly. It is recommended that the assembly adopts the proposed GIS-database for tracking property rate defaulters in the study area. Also stringent measures should be taken to combine education and law enforcement so as to enjoin property owners to comply with their task obligations.