Blog for Tuesday 29th January, 2008
Source : Diário de Notícias 29/1/2008
Leading story in the ‘Madeira’ section, is about a female police officer who had been assigned to traffic duty, near to a school who was hit by a balloon filled with water, from one of the upper floors. Thankfully she managed to identify the dangerous criminals involved, and they will be punished in accordance with the school regulations. Leading story … lovely!
Somewhat deeper in the same section, is a slightly more disturbing report about a ‘robbery’ last Thursday at 10pm, when a driver who stopped at traffic lights in Funchal was robbed at ‘syringe-point’. The man entered the car as it was stopped, and demanded money. The victim, who had little money, was ordered to drive to a cashpoint, but the criminal eventually left with just a wallet and some keys, which surprisingly turned up again in the victims mailbox the following day. The police have managed to identify the culprit from photographs in their files. In case there are any policemen who read this blog and have not already realised, this is what drug related crime looks like … the clue being the syringe!
In another serious crime story, this time involving corruption in the world of banana’s, five master criminals are to be sentenced next month for their roles in Madeira’s greatest ever banana swindle. The ‘Banana Five’ faced 7 charges between them, the most serious one carrying a maximum 8 year prison sentence.
Finally, onto council tax. For the current year, all the Câmaras (municipalities) will maintain their council tax rates at the same level as last year, except for Machico, who have made a slight cut for one of the two categories of buildings.
Porto Santo Island has the highest council tax rates of all Madeira’s municipalities. It applies the maximum permissible levy on its inhabitants. Porto Moniz, using the same factors as Porto Santo, applies council tax equivalent to 50% or less of the maximum permissible, depending on the circumstances relating to the properties.
For those who have recently built / purchased property on Madeira or Porto Santo, the ability to apply for complete exemption from council tax is still available. The exemptions are for 6 years for properties valued up to €157,500,
and for 3 years for values up to €236,500.
The real madeira4u blog page is regrettably still out of action, pending 3rd party repairs … as yet there is no indication of when it will be fixed … of course they continue to take my monthly support fees! Sorry!
www.madeira4u.com
