Rating of urban farmlands

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32779, 2 December 1971, Page 1

Rating of urban farmlands

If the Local Government Commission’s proposals for the enlargement of Christchurch City are put into effect, more than 40,000 acres of farmland will be added to its district. The commission itself says that the position as regards rates payable on this land should be adjusted through the creation of an urban farmlands rating roll.

The commission has recommended that the boroughs of Lyttelton and Riccarton, the whole of the counties of Heathcote and Waimairi, almost all Mount Herbert County, and the urban part of Paparua County should join the city —and all these districts include farmlands, with the exception of Riccarton. “It would be a big problem to get the valuations adjusted, and it would need a

lot of research,” said the City Treasurer (Mr L. A. G. Rich), who was asked , to explain the urban farmland rating system.

“Port Levy clearly could not be rated on tne< same basis as land in the urban part of the 1 city,” he said. “We mpst assume (hat city rates are high, and the county farmer ratepayers pay full county rates,’ but how do these rates compare with those in the city? “The city already operates an urban farmland roll for farm' property within its present boundary.. If the amalgamation took place, it would be a question of bringing the county farmland rates back to no more than the full county rates, arid this would need special revaluations for the rural land.” ■

The position is covered by the Rating Act, 1967, which provides for the creation of a supplementary farmland valuation roll where . the boundaries of an urban district are extended. This roll is to list all pieces of urban farmland. ■, , ...

Having prepared the roll, the council is charged with the job’ of determining the rateable value of., the. land, taking into account’ whether the rates due are excessive or burdensome; the'incidence

of general, special, and separate rates in the urban district, and the rates of other authorities; and the effect of any rate reduction on other ratepayers. Farmland ratepayers have

the right to object to the valuations. The objections must be considered by the council, and an objector has the right to appeal to the Administrative Division of the Supreme Court if the objection is not met by the council. ‘

Chiefly affected by the proposals are farmers in Mount Herbert County, where twothirds of its 37,770 acres are zoned for rural purposes—large and small farms, market gardens, and orchards. Two-thirds of the county council’s rates come from this land.

Of Heathcote County’s 8420 acres, about 7000 acres is zoned rural, mostly sheep runs on the Port Hills, farm land round Heathcote Valley, and the market gardens nearby. Rural land produces about 7 per cent of the county’s rates. Lyttelton Borough has an area of 2560 acres, about 2000 of which is zoned rural, mostly the hill country from Godley Head to Rapaki. Only 1 per cent of the borough rates come from this land, The council does not have an urban farmland roll, operating on the annual value system done by urban and rural valuers to achieve a balance. There is a small amount of farmland in Waimairi County; while in Paparua County, the land that would be affected is chiefly that lying east of the proposed city boundary line at Halswell.