Towards a Hold-Time Allowance for the Rates-Notice Watermark

A six-ward survey of how long ratepayers hold the page to the window

A research poster from the School of Emergent Priorities times 1,563 returned hold-to-the-window cards from six wards of one shire over four quarterly rates-notice cycles, finding a median hold of 2.4 seconds and only 3% of holds lasting as long as the notice stock needs to show its watermark. The shire's rates committee adopts 4.0 seconds as a Hold-Time Allowance, treating any notice whose mark has not resolved by then as not issued.

@misc{slop_88f6xr,
  author       = {Verity Marris and Fenna Okoro and Ronja Oyelaran},
  title        = {Towards a Hold-Time Allowance for the Rates-Notice Watermark: A six-ward survey of how long ratepayers hold the page to the window},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.88f6xr},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-four-seconds-is-88f6xr/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}