THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1919. RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUE.

Otaki Mail, 24 February 1919, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1919. RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUE.

Seeing that a poll is to be taken in Otaki on March 4th to obtain the opinions of ratepayers ■ of the Otaki Town District on the question of rating on unimproved values, it is well that the public should understand exactly what the proposed change means, the effect it would have on the ratepayers, and how the change is to | be effected. The Rating on Unimproved Value Act, 1896, was passed by the General Assembly to afford local bodies the opportunity of adopting the principle of rating which is expressed in the title of the measure. The Act- is now incorporated in the Rating Act, 190 S. It is entirely at the option of the bodies to adopt the system, and provision is made for a return to the old system of 1 rating, if desired, after three years’ ex-, periencc of t-hc new one. The Act provides that a proportion of the ratepayers on the roll, varying from 25 per cent where the total number does-not exceed 100 to 15 per cent -where the number exceeds 300, may demand in , writing, delivered to the Mayor or -Chairman of the district, requiro that In proposal to rate property' orf the basis •pf .the unimproved value may bo subinitted itb the- ratepayers, whose vote shall be Taken, between twenty-one and f.fcjve.nty-eight days after delivery of the. | demand. The poll is to be taken in ilio | same manner as in the-case of a proposal to raise a loan in the district under the Local Bodies’- Loans Act, 1913. Under the. original Act it was necessary for a minimum number of one-tliird-of the ratepayers to vote,’and a majority of their votes carried the proposal. Now - the . question.-of adoption or otherwise is decided by a bare majority of. the valid votes recorded, irrespective of the number of ratepayers. who have voted. A rescinding. , proposal may be carried by- a poll by. [ the same means, as one for adoption, but not until after three years have elapsed; and, vice versa, rejection of a proposal bars its being again brought forward for a,similar period. The valuation roll is supplied to the local authority by the Valuer-General under the provisions of the Valuation of Land Act, 1903, and the definitions of-“capi-tal value,” “improvements,” “unimproved value,” and “value of improvements” fouud in that Act apply also to rating on unimproved value. Provision is made for adjustment of ratingpowers given under previous Acts by fixing equivalents. Thus a rate of Is in the pound on tire annual value under former Acts is to be considered equal to fd in the pound on the capital value. The adjustments are to bo made so that the rates on the unimproved value shall be such as to produce as much as, but not more than, the rates under the Rating Act, 1908. For instance, supposing a local authority has a ratingpower up to £d in the pound on the capital value, then it can levy any rate in the pound on the unimproved value of land in its district so long as the producing capacity- of such rate is not greater than would be the producing capacity of a 3d rate on the capital value of the district. When a fixed iQte under the older system of rating is security for a loan the Controller and Auditor-General is given power to intervene and fix the new rate himself if of opinion that the new rate on the unimproved value does not afford equally us good security as the one to be given up. Up to date this system of rating has been adopted in no less than 322 districts in New Zealand, including the cities of Wellington and Christchurch and the boroughs of Palmerston North and Foxton. In. but very few instances , has the proposal been submitted-to the I ratepayers and rejected, and in a great many cases the polls have been carried by very large majorities. We would ask the ratepayers of the Otaki Town District to carefully consider this matter, in view of the approaching poll on March 4th.