LOCALS who have built new homes or new commercial premises since 2005 may be hit with a double rates increase.
Collie Shire Council endorsed its $20 million budget for 2010/11 on Tuesday night, incorporating a 3.96 per cent increase in total rate revenue.
Shire chief executive Jason Whiteaker said there would be some significant variations in individual rate increases this year, which were out of the council’s control.
This year provided a significant challenge for the council with a revaluation of both gross rental and unimproved value properties resulting in significant fluctuations, he said.
“We have had the case where some residential properties have had their valuations doubled, while other residential properties have only increased by 20 per cent,” he said.
“This represents a significant challenge to council in trying to limit individual rate increases, which is always the focus of the council.
“The Valuer-General provides a valuation for each individual property and the council sets a rate in the dollar, which when applied to the valuation strikes the final rate amount.
“When some valuations increase significantly more than others, the council has to accept the fact that some ratepayers will receive a significantly higher increase than others.”
To limit the impact on individual ratepayers, council will phase in valuations over three years.
This step, while unusual, was taken because councillors were mindful of individual impacts.
“The council considered using the full valuations provided by the Valuer-General to be unacceptable as it would have resulted in increases to individual rates which would have been very substantial,” Mr Whiteaker said.
Total valuations for gross rental properties increased from $28.5m in 2009 to $42.8m in 2010.
A review of the individual valuations indicated the hardest hit would be new homes or commercial premises built since the last revaluation in 2005.
In many cases these valuations have doubled.
To counter the increase in valuations, the council has reduced its rate in the dollar for GRV properties from 10.97 cents to 9.38 cents, while for UV properties there has been a slight decrease from .003430 cents to .003400 cents.
On the plus side, the budget includes $2.5 million for the council road program, up from $1.28 million in 2008-09.
Another $173,000 was set aside for footpaths and $252,000 for bridge maintenance.
More than $450,000 (partly funded by the state government) was allocated to revitalise the eight-kilometre stretch of the Collie River through town.
Collie Shire president Wayne Sanford said the river was a vital community asset and demanded council attention.
“The council, in partnership with the state, has allocated significant funds to revitalise this section of our river,” he said.
“Our community needs to understand that there is no quick fix. People need to be patient in the knowledge that we are working through a long process which will in our view provide great long term results.”
This year, more than any other, he was extremely excited about the year ahead, Cr Sanford said.
“I think in the last few years we have done some great projects for Collie, but we have also spent a considerable amount of our time planning and positioning ourselves to make a real difference in our community,” he said
“We will see projects come to fruition such as the opening of the overhead railway bridge, the building of a new swimming pool entrance at Steere Street, landscaping of the areas in front of the replica railway station through to Forrest Street, the relocation of the council depot from Coombe Street to the light industrial area and, perhaps most significantly, Forrest Street will be realigned and streetscaped.”
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter