The Otautau Standard AND WALLACE COUNTY CHRONICLE Tuesday, November 21st, 1905. RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 30, 21 November 1905, Page 2

The Otautau Standard AND WALLACE COUNTY CHRONICLE Tuesday, November 21st, 1905. RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES.

The proposal to be submitted to the 'ratepayers on* the Bth of next month with a view to determining whether or not the town district will adopt the system of rating on unimproved values, is an important one. Since the coming into force of the Act, m 1896, a great number of boroughs amd other local bodies have adopted the system, the borough of Invercargill being one of these. The Act sets out that, m the case of a rating district having over 100 ratepayers, 20% of such ratepayers, by petiti.Oß to the local governing body, can' demand a poll of the ratepayers to determine whether such system shall be adopted or not. On delivery of the petition, the local authority has to take steps to have a poll, not- sooner than 21 days and not later than 28 days after receipt of the petition/ In the event of the proposal being carried, and a bare majority of the votes recorded at the poll is sufficient to carry it, then the rating under the new system comes into operation upon the 81 st March, succeeding the date of the poll. As implied by the name of the Act itself, rates are then levied upon the, unimproved value of property in*etfead of, as under present conditions m Otautau, on the capital value. The local governing body is authorised^ to levy rates up to the limit of its rating power under present authorities. In order that each ratepayer will know i exactly how he is going to be effected immediately, the Town Board has authorised the preparation of a rate roll, showing the amount of each ratepayer's annual contribution under the new system and that hitherto m vogue. One alteration which takes place is i that whereas the unimproved valuation of property is only made by the Government once m three years, and this valuation determines the basis of taxation for that period, under the old method, whenever improvements ; were made on a property, the value of : such improvements was added annually, and rates levied npon the increased value from the next succeeding 81st March ; so that while the rate m the £ remained the same, it was quite possible for a ratepayer's rates to increase yearly. Under the new Act no alteration takes .place* of terner than once m three years. Should the proposal be carried, no poll to rescind the same can be taken until the expiration of at least three years from its adoption, and, likewise, should tbe proposal be lost, it cannot again be submitted to the ratepayers* for a further three years.