Rating Information

Background

The Shire is required, pursuant to Section 6.28 of the Local Government Act 1995, to review and make recommendations to the Minister for Local Government, as to the method of valuation to be used for rating purposes.

The Shire of Chittering has given an undertaking to the community, to review the current rating for unimproved valuations in rural residential areas of the Shire. Currently the rating mix for the Shire of Chittering is 11.4% of properties are rated as Gross Rental Value (GRV) and 88.6% are rated as Unimproved Value (UV). With the implementation of the rating review the rating mix will change to 71.7% GRV and 28.3% to remain as UV. Many of the properties that were previously rated as UV actually have predominantly non rural usage. This is responsible for an inequity in rating where both commercial farms and Muchea and Bindoon town site properties are paying proportionally higher rates than outlying residential properties.

This review process has been on the Chief Executive Officer’s KPI listing for at least twelve years. Requests have been made from ratepayers at Annual Electors meetings over several years for Council to investigate the rating methods within the Shire to achieve a more equitable system.

At the Ordinary Council Meeting held 20 February 2013, Council endorsed the Information Paper prepared by Dominic Carbone & Associates and conducted workshops in Lower Chittering on 15 May 2013 and Bindoon on 21 May 2013 to discuss matters addressed in the information paper.

After the workshops, Council, at its Ordinary Council Meeting held 20 November 2013 adopted a Rating Policy which in essence states “Where rural land is subdivided into small lifestyle lots, Council is to apply to the Minister for Local Government immediately upon receipt of the WAPC approved subdivision plan for the affected land, for a change in valuation methodology from UV to GRV.”

A full copy of the Rating Policy can be found on the Shire of Chittering website.

The adoption of the policy now deals with new subdivisions, however the review of the rating system needed to deal with the previously subdivided properties.

Consultation commenced in July 2014 with correspondence being sent to all likely affected property owners. This consultation continued between July and November 2014. In February 2015, Council resolved to apply to the Minister for Local Government to change the basis of rating for 1,642 properties from Unimproved Value (UV) to Gross Rental Value (GRV). In March 2015 the application was made to the Minister for Local Government and approval was granted by him and the change from UV to GRV was gazetted on 5 May 2015. After Gazettal the Valuer General’s Office were requested to supply new valuations for these properties, which they undertook during the months of May and June 2015. These values were obtained by desk top analysis of building plans and some kerbside viewings.

Discussion Paper

PDF files are used on www.chittering.wa.gov.au for large documents and other resources. Where a document is not designed to be exclusively printed, an accessible alternative file (for example HTML, Rich Text) may be obtained by emailing chatter@chittering.wa.gov.au and request the publication by quoting the title of the document and your requested format.