MT. ALBERT RATING SYSTEM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 228, 26 September 1930, Page 5

MT. ALBERT RATING SYSTEM.

ANNUAL VALUE ADVOCATED. '•UNIMPROVED" DENOUNCED. The merits of rating systems were discussed at a meeting of the Mount | Albert Terminus Ratepayers and Residents' Association, held last evening. Mr. P. Floyd, who presided, said the association wished to be impartial, but felt that in the interests of ratepayers the question should be discussed. Mr. F. Haigh said that whatever system was adopted by local bodies it was clear that the same total of rates must be secured. The question was on what property value rates should be calculated. He was in favour of annual or rental value. Rates should be levied according to the services rendered by the local authorities. A factory or a house coc~t more in service tnan a piece of vacant land of the same size as that which the building occupied. According to investigations made in Wellington and Dunedin, it had been shown that in the early development of a district unimproved value rating had helped to break up large blocks of land. After a certain stage breaking up was brought to a position when sections became so small that slums grew up unless careful measures were taken. In reporting on the question, the Wellington city solicitor had said: "Rating on unimproved values blots out gardens." The danger was particularly serious in times of depression, said Mr. Haigh. Owners of land, not being able to sell, adopted the plan of splitting their holdings into "pocket handkerchief" sections and erecting thereon jerry-built houses. The difference between rating on capital value and annual value was not great, but annual value offered the most equitable and beneficial system. Mr. L. E. Rhodes, Mayor of Mount Albert, said his council had had nothing to do with bringing the present system in, and it would have nothing to do officially with putting it out, but every facility would be given for the taking of a poll if a petition securcd the requisite number of signatures.