Council slams land cash cow

Yearly property valuations under attack

THE City of Greater Geelong has called for a proposed move to yearly land valuations to be scrapped, claiming it would cost $200,000 a year while hurting residents.

The State Government wants to centralise property valuations under the Valuer-General and carry them out annually, instead of every two years.

The proposal is being fought by local government authorities that claim it will cost the sector $10 million a year without providing any revenue.

Geelong council has multiple concerns, including the potential for City Hall to be unable to respond to ratepayers’ queries or objections on their bill.

Finance and strategy director Joanne Moloney said it was estimated the council would incur additional costs of $200,000 a year.

“We have assessed that the implications to revenue will likely come from the processing of supplementary rates notices,” Ms Moloney said.

“This is anticipated to be a negative impact of $1.8 million per annum.”

Borough of Queenscliffe has also resolved to join the lobby efforts.

Cr Bob Merriman said the change would cost the borough about $30,000 without providing any benefits.

“We understand that this change is very attractive to the State Government as it will significantly increase their land tax take, but councils will get no increase in rates,” Cr Merriman said.

Speaking in Parliament last week, Families and Children Minister Jenny Mikakos said it would improve the “efficiency, robustness and cost-effectiveness” of the system.

“Undertaking annual valuations will have the added benefit of smoothing out the existing biennial increases in land tax for land owners,” she said.

“The first annual revaluation under the new system will be undertaken from 2019.”

Local government authorities are furious with the proposal, claiming they had not been consulted before the change was revealed in the State Budget.

Rural Councils Victoria and the Municipal Association Victoria had been advocating for revaluations to occur every four years to reduce costs incurred by ratepayers.

The MAV said the State Budget figures showed the Government could reap an extra $200 million in land tax from 2019-20.

But it would cost councils $10 million annually and provide no extra revenue.

“It appears the driver for this reform is to secure more state revenue from property taxes, which grow along with increases in property values and house sales,” MAV president Mary Lalios said.