CITY VALUATION

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 144, 16 December 1930, Page 13

CITY VALUATION

IS IT TOO HIGH?

REDUCTION URGED

By "Z.P." Tlic last rates iv the City of AVcllington were levied on tlio uew and very high valuation recently made of the whole city. Tho figures for 1920 and 11)30 are as under:- — ■ CITY VALUES. I!)' 1!' lyilO. Increase £. £ £ Ulv"lluJ° VCd I'l 757 000 22,833,000 5.078,000 Improvements 10,015,000 20,831,000 12.81U.000. Capital value 31,072,000 M.OGIi.OOO 20,i)M,000 The unimproved values upon which the greater portion of tho rates arc levied have been'forced up by 54 per cent., while the capital values upon the equivalent of which the balance of the rates are assessed have, by virtue of this new valuation, taken a jump equal to 06 per cent.! The 1926 figures are, of course, those running from a previous valuation taken a few years earlier. Statisticians, will be interested to, note, that while prior to. the last valuation tho "improvements represented. 14 per cent, over the. unimproved value, this ..ratio was. in-' 'creased to 30 per cent, afterwards. ._■ . In the. face of. existing economic circumstances these extraordinary, increases in laud values must be regarded at least. with -considerable anxiety, if not, indeed, with consternation. No doubt it will be urged that as the job took some years to .complete the work was torwnenced, and a standard created, back in tho'giddy days of prosperity. HIGH VALUES, HIGH RENTS. High values create high rents, and in their trail follow social evils right down the line. The property-owner regards the value of his estate- as his investment, and ho looks for a return on it, so he assesses his rents in conformity with recorded values. The individual owner, however, has himself alone to please. He is susceptible to tho law of supply and demand. It is not so with the rating authority. But j even without the incidence of what might be regarded as a temporary call for lower values all round—even disregarding, merely as a visitation, the passing depression; —it wouJd be- difficult to find justification for a twothird increase' in tho paper value of the city. It cannot bo said that it was duo to added territory. Nor ■can it be claimed that it is substantially duo to increase- on suburban values. Well- —there it is. An accommodating city gives to its administrators additional powers—not by an increase in the rate in the pound, but by the simpler method of adding eight millions to the unimproved values and twenty-one millions to the capital vr,lues upon which to collect rates, almost wholly from, the same, owners. ASSESSMENT COURT. Early next year the Assessment Court wil sit again in Wellington. A large number of individual objections are to; be heard. Obviously even a sympathetic Court cannot disturb comparative values, though convinced of a false-standard. A refusal'to an individual applicant for redress need not necessarily indicate acceptance by the Court of present over-all values. The times call for a lowering of all standards. At least so the advice is ass given by economists and experts. If, therefore, we are satisfied that Wellington's recent self inflation of 60 per cent, was unfortunately inopportune and egregious, should not something be done. ..;,... . Hero is a, chance for the new Wellington Ratepayers' Association. What about a united frontat the Assessment Court or tho Valuation Department, and a request for, say, a 10 per cent, reduction all round? It would be in keeping with everything desirable towards curing our economic stresses.