RATING UNDER FIRE

Chronicle (Levin), 15 November 1946, Page 3

RATING UNDER FIRE

Revaluation of Borough COUNCIL'S DISCUSSION Arising out of a question asked by Cr. Wishart, as to the extent of the rates payable on a house property valued at between £1000 and £1500 in the borough of Shannon, the borough's present rating system came under heavy fire from all sides of the council table at the fortnightly meeting of the Shannon Borough Council on Tuesday evening. Cr. Wishart stated that the present rates on a property valued at over £1000 were ridiculously high, and the borough, by the rating system now in operation, was not encouraging the building of houses in the town. Cr. Wishart suggested that a revaluation of the borough be made. In reply to a question asked by the Mayor (Mr. R. E. Downes), the town clerk (Mr. J. T. Bovisj advised that the last valuation of the borough was made in the year 19391 40. The Mayor stated that hc had 'also lieard a number of complaints about the present rating system, and agreed with Cr. Wishart in saying that as the town needed more houses it v?as bad policy not to encourage building. He stated that there were a number of people, includlng returned servicemen, who were thinking of building houses, but were holding off because of the heavy rating on houses of a high valuation. Quoting an instance, the Mayor said that a property of one and a-half acres in Stout Street was being rated to the extent of £30. There was a rather elaborate house on the property. j Cr. Lind: And elaborate buildings i also. I The Mayor pointed out that when ithe property owners received notiification of the Government valuations they had the right to dispute it if they considered the value to be too high, but 99 per cent. did not dispute the valuation and were rated on that value. Speaking on f the present-day cost of building, the Mayor said that it cost about £1000 to build, and there were very : few house properties at present in ithe borough of that value. If the rates were increased it would make it harder for those considering ! building new houses. The town clerk said that when 1 permits were submitted to the building controller, the approximate cost of the building had to be stated, and the Valuation Department based its valuations on the flgures supplied by the owners ithemselves. The owner had- the | right to dispute the department's i valuation within fourteen days, but very few made any objection because f'of the sMling of the house i or obtaining a mortgage these high ! valuations were very good, but I when it came to rating it was not jso good from the property owner's point of view. Mr. Bovis pointed ! out that under the 1940 valuations : there were houses in Shannon that iwert just as good, if not better Ithan, some of the new houses, yet 'their valuation was only about half ; that of the newer houses. "If these houses were to be sold the owners would not think of accepting the valuation price for them," he said. 1 It was pointed out that the borough had to receive the some aggregate amount of money each year, and that could only be obtained ' throligh rating. It would _ be ■ impossible to benefit both sections \ of the community if a change was ; made in the rating system. When discussing rating on the ; unimproved value, the Mayor said that the town was too scattered, and the holders of vacant sections and farm lands would suffer. i Cr. Aitchison said that if rating 'on the unimproved value was i adopted, the owners of farm ! properties would make application ifor entry into a rural area, and this 1 would not be good for the borough. | The Mayor said he undcrstood 'that the averagc rates on a house '.property in Foxton were only about j£6. Cr. JJnd quotcd an example of a 'property owued by a friend iu I Levin. The property included a house and a vacant section. The rates under the old system were £8 on the house and about £1 on the section, whereas under the new system the rates on the house were about £4 and £4 on the section. Although Cr. Aitchison agreed that it worked out about the same, the Mayor pointed out that it would not be too good for the owner if he only held the vacant section. Cr, Lind went on to state that he believed that before the present rating system was adopted in Levin, Rugby Park was rented by the Rugby Union for about £12 per year and the rates were £4, but under the new system the rates alone on the park amounted to £58. Cr. Lind stated that he was not in favour of rating on the unimproved value, and pointed out that the returns obtained from rates in the borough had -not risen to any great extent since 1926, when the amount received was £2478 against £2824 received last year. Shannon's rates were not unduly high except in isolated cases. The 25 per cent. saies tax on most of the building material had now been lifted, and this would reduce the cost of constructing a house. A councillor mentioned that a short time ago the hospital rate in Shannon was £196, whereas it is now £400. The town clerk advised that there was the Catchment Board rate of £70 and also an increase in sanitary fees. Cr. Aitchison said that the adjustment of the rates would be a difficult business, but Cr, Lind pointed out that if a revaluation of Ihe borough was made it would

spread the rates more evenly over all ratepayers. The Mayor mentioned that if the valuations only made £50 difference to the values of each property in the borough, it would bring the rates on the higher valued properties down co'nsiderably. Cr. Curran asked why the owners of high rated properties could not have- their own^properties revalued.. In reply to a question asked by the Mayor, as to what were the rates on the present State houses, the town clerk advised that they varied between £13 12s 2d and £18 6s lld. To this the Mayor replied that these rates were far too high. Cr. Aitchison said that these rates were no higher per £1 than any others in the borough. The Mayor: On a house valued at £885, £16 14s 4d rates is too high. Other councillors quoted cases where houses valued . in 1940 were rated considerably lower than those built recently. Cr. Curran said that what the town needed was more State houses to increase the revenue. To this the Mayor replied that the State Housing Department must think the rates in Shannon were very high as compared with other towns of the same size. Cr. Aitchison remarked that the town was not getting enough work done on roads and footpaths, because the council did not have sufficicnt money. If the town was revalued the council would get more money, but he did not think the high ratepayers would get a very big reduction. Cr. Lind stated that the council should have increased the rates years ago. The county rates had increased 45 pcr cent., whereas Shannon's rates showed very littlc increase over the past twenty years. The Mayor informed the council that hc could not ask them to act without giving considerable thought to the matter, and suggested that it be held over until tlie next meeting, Cr. Wishart said that he was agreeable to this procedure being adopted, and it was resolved that the matter come up for full discussion at the ncxt meeting of the council.