A LOCAL business owner is angry about a drastic rate rise on his South Western Highway property in Donnybrook.
Tony Scaffidi’s former packing shed and cool store has attracted a 299.7 per cent rate rise after a 356 per cent increase in its Gross Rental Valuation (GRV) by Landgate Property and Valuations.
The valuations are provided to the shire council every four years to assist in the determination of how a property will be rated.
Landgate looks at each property, acquires information on current rents and carries out its assessment based on these findings.
Donnybrook-Balingup Shire CEO John Attwood said there had been substantial property valuation increases relating to industrial properties and larger houses in the Donnybrook and Argyle areas compared with the shire’s other residential areas.
“Landgate data indicates an increase in valuations on GRV properties throughout the shire of 53 per cent with average increases in Donnybrook townsite of 54.4 per cent, Argyle 62.5 per cent, Kirup 34.5 per cent and Balingup 28.5 per cent,” he said.
The valuation changes varied from a decrease of 17 per cent to an increase of 356 per cent.
“As the valuation by Landgate is the basis for setting rates, there will be a wide range of rates levied this year,” Mr Attwood said.
“The rate in the dollar imposed on areas rated in the GRV areas has been reduced from 9.4052 in the 2009/10 year to 6.1782 in the 2010/11 year.”
Donnybrook-Balingup Shire Council has budgeted to increase rates in townsites and rural residential areas by five per cent and rural areas by six per cent.
“With the proposed rate setting in the GRV areas, the variance in actual rates levied to individual ratepayers will vary from a decrease of 61 per cent to an increase of 200 per cent,” Mr Attwood said.
If valuations were carried out more regularly, there would not be so much variation.
“While there have been valuation fluctuations in previous revaluations, there has been nothing as significant as this year,” he said.
Mr Scaffidi said the rates on his shed would increase 300 per cent from $1565.03 to $4690.49 this year and he will be appealing against the valuation.
“The actual shed has been there for 40 years, and we’ve used it as a packing shed for fruit for most of that time. For the last seven years it hasn’t been used at all,” he said.
“Now we’ve leased a section of it and we find the increase in rates very hard to take.”
Mr Scaffidi said he didn’t mind an eight to 10 per cent increase, which would be a normal procedure.
“Primary production in the area has deteriorated to an extent where there have been a lot of closures or foreclosures on the fruit industry,” he said.
Many people were leaving the fruit industry because multi-nationals controlled more than75 per cent of the market, and therefore pricing for the product, Mr Scaffidi said.
“That is why I believe most people are getting out of the industry and trying to use their facilities to generate some sort of income,” he said.
The shed had been empty and non-income earning for five years.
“Now that we’ve got a small income coming from it, and a percentage is leased, I find it not right that that increase should be as much,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s worth what they’re saying it is. They’ve only based it from the rent coming in from a percentage of the building.”
Only one-third of the building was leased, yet the valuation for the leased portion had been applied to the whole building, Mr Scaffidi said.
“Being for so long a fruit growing primary industry shire, and with that industry fading away, the shire should oppose these sorts of increases for the town to diversify into other industries,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Local Government said the valuations system was designed to take into account an owner’s ability to pay and ensure all owners made a reasonable rate contribution.
Ratepayers with queries or concerns on the rating strategy adopted by their councils were encouraged to contact their council office or their elected members.
Ratepayers also have the right to appeal against the valuation to Landgate – Valuations, at PO Box 177, Bunbury WA 6231.
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