Carterton and South Wairarapa property owners will have to wait longer than expected for updated rating valuations, with changing regulatory requirements, a complex rural sector and the ongoing effects of covid-19 noted as causing the delay.
Revaluations had been scheduled to be finalised in February, and have now been pushed back to April 17.
Carterton and South Wairarapa ranked among the top four regions with the highest residential rates in New Zealand last year when Carterton was number one, and South Wairarapa took out the fourth spot.
A Taxpayers’ Union report for 2023 showed that Carterton ratepayers were forking out an average of $3938 annually.
The Office of the Valuer General [OVG] – the government body that oversees all rating valuations – agreed that Quotable Value [QV] should take more time before finalising updated rating valuations in Carterton and South Wairarapa.
QV is New Zealand’s largest valuation and property services company that works closely with the OVG to provide rating valuations on properties nationwide.
QV national revaluation manager Tim Gibson said this extra time would help to guarantee greater accuracy of the rating valuations.
“The OVG’s audit is an important part of the rating revaluation process that does take a great deal of time and effort,” Gibson said.
“It has been delayed this time because we still need to thoroughly review a number of values within the district.”
Due to OVG workloads, QV will be using the additional time to review the remaining values within the district but will not be able to complete this work until early March, when the results will be submitted for an independent audit.
New values will be based on the most likely selling price if the property had sold on the valuation date – September 1, 2023 – and will help to inform rates for the 2024/2025 rating year.
The values will be used to determine that an equitable share of rates is distributed fairly across property owners in the district and are not intended to be used as market valuations.
Property owners can lodge an objection with QV before May 24 if they do not agree with their new rating valuation.
Information about the objection process with QV will be sent with the new valuations later this year.
