RATING SYSTEM

Evening Star, Issue 23496, 9 February 1940, Page 11

RATING SYSTEM

MDRNINGTDN PROPERTIES VALUATION PROTEST CITY COUNCIL TO BE APPROACHED The result of a meeting last night of over 150 Moruiugton residents, besides the revival of a ratepayers and householders’ association in the district, was that a strong protest against tho rating value as struck in Mornington is to be sent to the City Council. Considerable interest was taken by those present in how the affairs of tho association, whose activities will also embrace Maryhill and Belleknowes, are to be conducted and who will conduct them, and it was not until a late hour that the convener aud also the chairman of the meeting (Mr Arthur S. Cayzer) was able to turn the attention of the residents to the evidently vexed question of tho rates. Mr Cayzer said that it was all very well for tho City Council to contend that tenants of rented houses did riot have to boar the burden of the rates. There was a considerable number of rented houses in Mornington, and increased rates meant that the landlord passed on the increase, to a tenant. The more an owner of a house tried to improve it by small additions, such as the building of a garage or the formation of a footway, the more its value was increased out of all proportion to the alterations. Of course tliere was a remedy—personal objection to the Assessment Court on February 1.5. Mr Cayzer questioned the qualifications of the valuers to carry out their work in this city, and said that a working man earning £5 a week was being charged on the average by way of rates £ls to keep a roof over his head. In other words, the owner of a house was losing his grip of his property and paying rent, really. At present there was a scarcity of houses to rent in Dunedin, and because of that, said Mr Cayzer, rentals had soared. The city valuer valued the highest way possible on rented and owned property. If more drastic action than a protest to the City Council or to the Assessment Court were decided to be taken by the residents of Mornington they could refuse to pay their rates as a body, and only the 10 per cent, penalty for late payment. The council could not further penalise them and would be considerably embarrassed.

A resident said that he was certain that the meeting as a body could not find any solution to the increased rates this year. The rateable value of a property was fixed by an Act. There was a lot to he said for the unimproved rating system. Another speaker said that it was impossible to obtain a reduction in the rates, on Morniugton properties unless residents lodged a mass objection to the City Council. The system of unimproved values remove a lot of the burden being shouldered by ratepayers, said a further speaker. Why that system was not adopted when" a poll was taken a few years ago was that it would not be in the interests of persons occupying property in the main street of the city. Mr M. Silverstone, an authority on the rating system, had tried to convince residents without success that unimproved valuation was in their interests. - Further discussion ended in-the following motion being moved by Mr F. M'Leod:—“That the association petition the City Council to take a poll on the question as to whether the system of unimproved rating value should be adopted in Dunedin.” The motion was lost. The following amendment, moved by Mr R. M'Kinnon, was carried:—“ That the committee of the association be instructed to write a letter of protest to the City Council about the rating valuation as struck in the district, and suggesting that if values are sustained the council take this into consideration when striking-the rates in the pound.” It was decided to name the association the Mornington, Maryhill, and Belleknow’es Ratepayers and Householders’ Association, and the following committee was elected:—Messrs Cayzer (chairman!, D. Anderson. V. Freeman, G. H. Ferens. R. M'Kinnon, F. M'Leod, R. B. Middlemiss, J. Ramsay, A. Torrance, and E. Wilson. Mr F. J. Webb was elected secretary and treasurer.