Quotable Value for rates an outdated, blunt tool: mayor

Central Hawke’s Bay District Mayor Alex Walker says the Quotable Value(QV) system used to assess how rates are spread across properties is “a blunt tool” and may no longer be fit for purpose.

She says the recent QV valuations highlighted huge increases in value of urban properties, as opposed to rural properties, driving a large rates increase for the urban properties and highlighting “a rating tool that is too blunt for modern communities”.

Rating based on property valuation is the tool local government has “and has always had”, explains Mayor

Walker. “Central government takes income taxes, local government takes property taxes.”

The Rating Valuations Act 1988 says all properties nationwide must be valued every three years to help set local body rates.

QV compares each property with recent sales in an area to determine a property value. A Rating Valuation is based on the likely selling price (market value) of a property.

This year’s updated property valuations did not result in the council collecting more money overall, but has affected the spread of rates across properties. Mayor Walker says the impacts on households of the increased rates are “personal and hard” and she urges property owners struggling with the rates increase to contact the council for assistance.

“We have mechanisms to assist people in the form of different rates rebates and support. ”

Higher rates across the board in Central Hawke’s Bay have been driven by a council in “catch-up mode”, says Mayor Walker.

“We are rebuilding long-neglected infrastructure, wastewater upgrades, expanding of the stormwater systems, community-wide expansions of footpaths, increased carbon costs for running our landfill, and replacing our district plan to protect our communities and our environment.

“A lot of the work isn’t visible — all the community sees are the symptoms. There is a lot that isn’t seen and a heap of work to do, especially in the planning and regulatory space involving legal processes.”

Mayor Walker says the community has been consulted and was clear.

“They don’t want to see Band-Aids. They want to see deliberate investment in Central Hawke’s Bay’s future and they want the process to be transparent. Our elected members are committed to putting all the information out in the public space.

“We are conscious that this means a large number of people — many new to our community — are seeing and hearing what small-town local government looks like for the first time, but it’s a valuable process.”

To check your proposed new rates, or new property valuation, go to the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council website. Please contact council if you need assistance.