MOUNT EDEN RATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 178, 29 July 1932, Page 6

MOUNT EDEN RATES.

The ratepayers of Mount Eden are absolutely staggered at the amount of the demand for rates. The council alleges that the rate i<s 4/11 in the £, but this is far from being correct. The valuation of the borough was made in January, 1931, fully eighteen months ago, and since that date property values have changed -considerably. The average bungalow at that time was rented at fl 10/ per week, and to-day the same house is let at £1 2/6 and in some cases lower. The local authority has therefore demandrd rate® <"<■ 4/11 in the £ on a property which is alleged to produce 30/ weekly, but in reality is only producing 22/0. Had the Borough Council had a recent valuation oil which to strike a rate It would have had to make'a levy o£ 0/0 in the £, and .this is the real and correct rate which the ratepayers are called upon to meet. The position is absolutely impossible. The Mount Eden Council apparently believes thac it can extract more money from the people in times of adversity than prosperity. In h few months' time the serious financial position will occur when our councillors will realise that the ratepayers cannot pay, and with the present huge bank overdraft and the large amount of arrears outstanding in rates, the council will be placed in the invidious position that it cannot meet its commitments. Local taxation in this borough lias now gone beyond saturation point, and the inevitable must be faced. RATEPAYER.