The review comes in response to concerns that Grouville may have over-assessed the number of quarters each property has.

Pictured: Concerns have been raised that properties in Grouville have been allocated too many quarters compared with similar properties in other parishes. 

If that is the case, it means that Grouville rate payers may have been paying a disproportionately high contribution to the island-wide rate, compared to rate payers in the other 11 parishes.

Constable Labey described the move as "an initiative of the supervisory committee to help Grouville get through this Autumn".

"I think it's wonderful that the committee is supporting Grouville in this way," Constable Labey added.

In June one resident, former St Helier Deputy Jennifer Bridge, wrote to the chairman of the supervisory committee – the 12 Constables sitting "to encourage and promote uniformity in rateable values throughout Jersey" – asking for "an island-wide methodology for calculating rates".

“We’re a very small island, so it seems really odd that each parish has a different way of calculating rates," Miss Bridge said.

Pictured: Grouville Constable Mark Labey said "it's wonderful that the committee is supporting Grouville in this way".

Discontent within the parish surfaced last year when all three appeals made to the Rate Appeal Board by Grouville residents last year were upheld.

In one of the cases, the Rate Appeal Board found that the parishioner's property had been 75% over assessed and instructed the parish to reduce the number of quarters. In monetary terms, the islander was overcharged more than £600 in total.

This year 13 individuals have lodged appeals relating to 14 different properties in Grouville.

Constable Labey defended his approach to addressing parish rates and criticised those who he said were "trying to make life as difficult as possible".

"I am trying to modernise everything and to bring the parish into the 21st century," he said.

What are rates?

The island-wide rate helps ensure that all parishes help cover the cost of Jersey's welfare system, while parish rates cover parish-specific costs.

The value of rates is set annually at Parish Assemblies, and the amount a ratepayer pays is a multiple of the number of 'quarters' (a unit of measurement) that parish assessors have allocated to a property. 

While the number of quarters only has an indirect impact on the amount that households and businesses pay for parish services – in that, it is the pence per quarter that matters – it does directly determine how much is paid for the island-wide rate.