Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, SEPT. 8, 1898. Rating on Unimproved Value.

Manawatu Herald, 3 September 1898, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, SEPT. 8, 1898. Rating on Unimproved Value.

-»_ a As a change will shortly take place in" the personnel of the Borough Council it will not be out of place to ask that the option placed before ratepayars by " The Rating on Unimproved Value Act, 1896," should receive some ventilation by their representatives. Altering the system of raising an income is always a ticklish matter, and before any step is decided upon the whole working of a new machinery requires most careful overhauling, as one section of the Act expressly orders that when a vote has been cast upon the issue put before the electors, it cannot be altered for the succeeding three years. We of course are aware of the advantages and disadvantages existing under the present system of rating on the improved value, but on the other side of the question there is very much to be said both for, and against. One thing stands out distinctly clearly and that is that the total sum raised by rates in the Borough will not be reduced, and if ratepayers might have thought that a shuffle in the cards of levying rates would lead to a diminution they will be very much mistaken, as the Act again directs that "the rates made and levied on the unimproved value under this Act shall be so adjusted as to equal, as nearly as may be, but not to exceed, in their produc-ing-capacity, the rates made and levied on the annual or capital value, as the case may be, under " The Rating Act, 1894." It m^y be as well to explain at this point, though beyond the burden it might be on the Borough, it otherwise has nothing to do with the argument as to adopting the Act, that the valuation for unimproved values is supplied by the Government, the cost of which has been very much condemned by the many local bodies who have had to pay for it. In this article we do not purpose to do more than draw attention to the subject and very briefly explain the chief points in the Act. The unimproved value is declared to be the gross value of land less the value of all improvements thereon, which has been construed by the government valuers to be the actual value of the bare land, both from its position and producing power, as it was on the day the valuation was made. It is as well to draw attention to -this point for though the values are made yet many owners only bothered as to the total value, and many yet imagine that the unimproved value of any land must be what it certainly was many years ago, or just what could be made off it. As land owing to its position to railways, main roads, or other improvements, has a different value, either for residences or business sites, so has the value of the land been taken into consideration. The Act can be adopted by a proportion of ratepayers in the case of this Borough of twenty per centum, by writing under their hands delivered to the Mayor, demand the adoption of this Act be submitted to the vote of the ratepayers, and on the day so fixed a poll is taken on the proposal that " The Rating on Unimproved Value Act, 1896," be adopted in the Borough oi Foxton, and that henceforth property be rated upon the basis of the unimproved value thereof. The voting is simple, the two issues being " I vote for the the proposal," or " I vote against the proposal." No proposal shall be deemed to be carried unless affirmed by a majority of the valid votes recorded, and at least onethird of the ratepayers on the roll record their votes. The adopting proposal can be carried in the same manner and conditions, but not? until three years have elapsed.