Community & Business
23 August, 2023
Rates notices on their way
RATES notices for the Tablelands Regional Council area will hit mailboxes and inboxes at the end of this month, with payments due towards the end of September.
“Once again, these won’t be run-of-the-mill rate notices,” Tablelands Mayor Rod Marti said.
“Department of Resources (DoR) land valuations for this year have again complicated our rates process.
“Like all councils, we use DoR’s land valuations in the calculation of rates and will do our best to mitigate the upward impact.
“If we had a spike in land valuations in just one area, we could capture and manage that particular area, however the changes to land valuations have again occurred across the entire region.
“Also adding to the complexity is the land valuation changes not being consistent within rating categories — they vary significantly with some increasing and others decreasing.
“There is certainly no easy fix, but we’ve done our best to manage this, acting responsibly and fairly.
“To help soften the rises, we’re averaging the valuations over three years.”
Cr Marti said the three-year average value of the land was calculated by taking the values from 2021–22, 2022–23 and 2023–24, and dividing by three.
“If the land was recently subdivided or amalgamated and didn’t have a value for the previous financial year, the three-year average is the current value of the land multiplied by the three-year averaging number (0.81), and where properties have had a reduction in valuation only the new, lower value will be used,” Mayor Marti said.
If any property holder disagrees with their new land valuation, they should contact DoR on 1300 644 217 or submit their objection online.
