Rate increases reflect market prices: council

Press, 31 May 1985, Page 4

Rate increases reflect market prices: council

The differential rate increases faced this year by households in different parts of Christchurch City is no new phenomenon—it hap-

pens every five years, according to the Christchurch City Council’s rates supervisor, Mr Wayne Hann.

After Government valuations were made every five years there was a flow-on effect on rates, he said. If a household faced a higher-than-average valuation increase on a property it must be prepared for a corresponding increase in rates.

Mr Hann said that this had occurred in 1980 after the 1979 valuations.

It was unfortunate that Merivale and the hill suburbs round Sumner were similarly hard hit by rate increases in 1980 as well as this year.

This was directly related to the market prices people were prepared to pay to move into these areas. “This is beyond the control of the Christchurch City Council,” Mr Hann said. He thought the 1980 situation might have been worse for some people, such as shop owners in New Brighton who faced more than 100 per cent increases. Mr Hann estimated that rate increases this year would vary between 4.4 per cent and 57 per cent, de-

pending on the location. He said the council accepted that some people might have to face higher increases, but the 87.4 per cent increase of a Rugby Street property used as an example by “The Press" was the highest he had heard of this year. The average annual rate bill for city ratepayers is $514, or $9.88 a week. Mr Hann said that households in Beckenham, Addington, the central city, St Albans, Papanui, and Merivale would receive their new rate estimates on July 1, and the rest of the city would receive theirs on August 1.