Monday 10 October 2016

New rateable valuations for Horowhenua properties due out in next week

New rateable valuations for Horowhenua properties will be available within the week.

In New Zealand, councils are funded by a form of property taxation known as rates. At least once every three years every district and city is re-valued to set the values on which council rates are based for the following three years.

Horowhenua District’s revaluation has been undertaken and property owners will start to receive their valuation notices in the post from 17 October. The new values will be used by Horowhenua District Council to determine rating from 1 July 2017.

The current and new rateable valuations will also be available to view on the Rating Information Database page of Council’s website www.horowhenua.govt.nz later this week.

Horowhenua District Council’s Finance Group Manager Doug Law said that, naturally, property owners’ first question is how it will affect their rates.

“People often think that an increase or decrease in valuation will automatically result in an increase or decrease in rates. Many people also think that an increase in the district’s values will mean that the Council gets more money. These are misconceptions,” he said.

“How it works is that Council decides through its planning processes how much money it needs to undertake the projects, services and other activities that it will provide for the next 12 months. Having worked out that total, it then calculates the proposed rates by dividing the district’s Land Value into the total dollars that it needs.

“The rating valuation provides the means to share the cost of the rates across the district according to a set of property values that are provided for every property on a common date, 1 August 2016. This means that every property is valued on the same basis and at the same time.”

Mr Law said the rateable value of a property will not change for the next three years even if the market value increases or decreases during that time.

ENDS

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