Tenterfield Shire ratepayers with property categorised as the Residential Tenterfield and Residential Tenterfield Urban will notice a change on their next rates notice as their rates are calculated differently.
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Council’s corporate services director Allan Shorter explained that this move has been taken to more-equitably spread the 10 per cent special rates variation increase in rates income approved by IPART (Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal) in 2014.
To date rates were calculated on a minimum/ad valorem basis. Due to the small increase this year in the allowable minimum rate (as set by the Office of Local Government), 1026 of the 1546 rates notices in the identified categories would have increased from $484 to $506, an increase of only 4.5 per cent.
“Other ratepayers within that category would be carrying a larger burden than others”, Mr Shorter said.
“We’ve had to solve the problem.”
To counteract the growing gap, these properties’ rates will now be calculated from a base rate of $280 plus an ad valorem (based on 0.634858 per cent of land value). In his report to council Mr Shorter said that under this model land value is a key driver in determining how much a ratepayer contributes.
As a result, 159 ratepayers in the Residential category will be paying less than they did last year. The rest will see an increase of between 60 cents up to $152.10 per year.
Only nine assessments fall into the Residential Urban category. Of these, seven will see their rates go down. Mr Shorter said this category includes larger, high-value properties which have felt the brunt of the special rate variation in the past.
While the changes affect only Residential Tenterfield and Residential Tenterfield Urban properties at this stage, Mr Shorter said modelling would be done to assess the impact on other rates categories when new land values are released, to address other imbalances which have been identified.
Mr Shorter discouraged ratepayers from trying to compare their rates assessment with their next door neighbour as differences in land value have such an impact on the total figure.
He also clarified that the changes affect only the ordinary rates. Rate subcategories will be simplified over the coming year with a number of subcategories amalgamated, such as village subcategories being combined with Residential Other and Business Other.
