Details below are largely true for any improvement district but requirements specific to city improvement districts formed in terms of the Gauteng legislation are marked with a (G).
The geographic boundaries of the improvement districts have to be established.
All property owners and major tenants within a defined area should be identified and consulted to the proposed intervention.
A vote has to occur and a pre-determined majority (51% in Guateng) must be achieved in order to legally establish an improvement district. Additionally the local authority may have to approve the CID as is the case in Gauteng.
Every property owner needs to be informed about the establishment of the CID.
Whilst the application to the local authority to establish an improvement district may be made by 25%; of property owners, final approval will not be considered unless more than 51% of relevant property owners are in agreement. (G)
Once a district is authorised, 100% of property owners within a district have to contribute financially. (G)
Once legally constituted the improvement district authorises the council to levy an additional tax on improvement district members, who are required to pay them just as they have to pay rates. (G)
The council collects the levy on behalf of the improvement district and pays the money received directly over to the improvement district without deduction or gives agency status to an approved agency to collect levies on its behalf.
Each district has its own board of directors elected from the members of the CID Section 21 company and they effectively control the district within the terms of their original improvement district business plan. Although non voting members of the board may be included, such as a councillor, tenant or other stakeholder, property owners must be in the majority.
The board normally appoints a specialist urban management company such as Kagiso Urban Management to manage the day-to-day operations within the district.
The supplemental services provided by the CID should represent the actual needs of the area according to the goals the property owners have for the area. However the services provided are decided by the property owners since CIDs are property owner driven.
The local authority must inform to the CID as to its current level of service and must maintain the same level of service when the CID is running through a services level agreement (SLA). This is to ensure that the CID services remain supplementary and are not a replacement for local authority baseline services (G).
The improvement district is established for an initial period of three years but its life can continue indefinitely unless members move for material changes to the original business plan. (G)