SYSTEM OF RATING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1094, 10 September 1912, Page 2

SYSTEM OF RATING.

FOR WATER AND DRAINAGE.

In order to clear any doubt existing in the minds of ratepayers as to the system of rating in connection with a water and drainage scheme, should the proposal be carried, it was decided at the last meeting of the Council to get an opinion on the question from Mr T. F. Martin, solicitor to the Municipal Association. The following are the questions submitted, and the replies supplied by Mr Martin, as read at last night’s Council meeting : Question : Under which system of rating would a special rate have to be struck if a proposal to raise a loan for water supply and drainage was carried in this borough ? Some five or six years ago we adopted the unimproved system of rating.

Answer : I am of opinion that the special rate must be struck on the unimproved value, which system applies to all rates (Section 40 Rating Act, 1908). Question : Are the water rates still to be struck in accordance with Section 83 ot the Municipal Corporations Act, 1908, or does the Rating Act, 1911, require them to be struck on the unimproved value ? Answer : I am of opinion that Section 83 of the Municipal Corpuiations Act still applies, and that water rates must be struck in the manner therein provided, notwithstanding Section 2 Rating Act Amendment, 1911. Section 87 (c) of Rating Act, tgoa, therefore, still applies, and the annual value must be decided by taking 6 per cent, of the capital value under Rating Act Section 87 (c). The transposition is necessary, as a valuation on the annual value is no longer made. Since under Section 83 Municipal Corporations Act the water rales are not uniform, it would be Impossible to fix a uniform rate on the unimproved value ol so much in the