REMISSION OF RATES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21861, 25 July 1934, Page 13

REMISSION OF RATES

PROVISIONS UNDER ACT TOWN BOARD'S OBJECTION The opinion that the remission of half rates under section 69 of the Rating Act, 1925, should not apply in districts where rating is on the unimproved value was expressed by the Ellerslie Town Board last evening. In reporting on the proposal to amend the section the clerk, Mr. J. W. Carr, said that, under the existing provisions, any ratepayer having a residence unoccupied for six months in any rating year was entitled to - the remission of half the annual rates levied. In a district where rating was on unimproved valuation this created anomalies. Rates were payable on the unimproved valuation of a section only and on a vacant section full rates were required to be paid, while on one with a house exemption could be obtained. Mr. Carr said the provisions of the section could be equitably applied only where rating was on rental or capital value.

A resolution was passed approving of the clerk's report, and he was instructed to forward the board's views to the Municipal Association. A resolution was passed favouring the extension of the provisions of the section to include all buildings, whether residential or otherwise. A suggestion that a State lottery, subsidised from the Unemployment Fund and the Main Highways Fund, should bo adopted by Parliament as a means of financing comprehensive works for the relief of unemployment was discussed by the board. A motion to this effect, moved by Mr. J. J. Toy, was lost by five votes to two.