Rates shift in the Mackenzie

Increased property values in the Mackenzie district will mean a rating shift from rural to urban, mayor Graham Smith says.

QV statistics released publicly on Wednesday showed property values in the district have increased 25 per cent in the past year with the average property value at $410,692.

The increase was the secondhighest in the South Island. Queenstown saw a 31.6 per cent climb in values.

Rates are set in June or July but consideration is already being given to the property value indication from QV.

‘‘The Mackenzie towns have risen significantly but ... as far as farming is concerned, the rural side of the district probably won’t increase much in valuation. It will mean there will be a bit of a rating shift from the past year,’’ Smith said.

Previously about half of the district’s rates have come from the rural sector.

The popularity of property in Tekapo and Twizel meant there would be a shift to towns paying a bigger proportion of rates because of the higher valuations.

‘‘The more capital values go up, the more that sector tends to pay in rates,’’ Smith said.

The change is likely to be seen in rates bills in September or October.

‘‘Nothing is gong to kick into place until later on in the year,’’ he said.

He explained the council sets a value needed to manage its services and infrastructure and rates are struck based on property values.

‘‘In the past it has been rural properties with higher values. Last valuation the rural went up 23 per cent and town didn’t move much. This time the towns have gone up and rural has not moved much. That changes the loading but not the overall rate take,’’ he said.

‘‘They [rural] will see a flattening off, not decreases,’’ he said.

QV indicated an upswing in property values by 8.2 per cent in the past three months in the Mackenzie and 43.4 per cent since the property market’s peak in 2007.