Noosa Council will lobby the state government for a review of Queensland’s rating system to lessen the financial impact that dramatic land value increases are having on ratepayers.
Mayor Clare Stewart said the Queensland Valuer-General’s latest valuations for Noosa had seen many land values increase by hundreds of thousands of dollars and in some cases double in 12 months.
“If we simply feed the Valuer-General’s new valuations into our rating structure our ratepayers face average increases of around 44 per cent – before CPI – at a time when many in our community can ill afford it,” the Mayor said.
Cr Stewart has requested a meeting with the state’s Resources Minister, Scott Stewart, to call for changes.
In Queensland, under the Local Government Act, councils calculate rates as a percentage of land values, as assessed by the state’s valuer, the Valuer-General.
“It’s not just owners of properties in the more expensive areas facing increases, it’s homeowners right across the shire who have seen their land valuations jump by more than 50 per cent,” Mayor Stewart said.
She said councillors were committed to keeping rate rises to a minimum through the budget process, with staff working on a range of scenarios to lessen the impact of the sharp valuation increases come budget time.
“To mitigate the flow through of these latest valuations, like previous years, our staff will review our general rating structure and the rate in the dollar charged to properties.
“This will help moderate, where possible, the impact of valuation increases to ensure the outcome is as equitable and reasonable as possible across the shire in the face of varying valuation increases,” the Mayor said.
Acting corporate services director, Trent Grauf, said council would use a differential rating structure to levy general rates which would, where possible, moderate the impacts of property valuation increases on rates.
“It’s however very disappointing the State Government opted to conduct land valuations in Noosa for the second consecutive year, rather than every three years, which is the usual process,” the Mayor said.
“After such significant increases last year, we requested the state not to put our shire’s property owners through this process again so soon, given the floods we experienced in 2022.
“Similarly, there seems to be little understanding as to why land valuations were conducted two years in a row for some councils and not for others. For example, Sunshine Coast Council did not incur a second consecutive valuation whereas Gympie and Noosa Shire did.”
Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig, who will lobby the Minister alongside Mayor Stewart said, “There appears to be little common sense to conducting land valuations two years in a row, at the peak of a cycle. Gympie Region was revalued last year and to have the inflated impact of the property cycle thrust on council again, with no apparent logic, causes unnecessary distress for residents.”
Mayor Stewart said the new valuations, which are based on market conditions from October last year, and take effect in July this year, did not reflect a recent softening of the market.
“We look forward to taking our case up with the Minister,” Mayor Stewart said.
Any property owner can object to the State Government determined land valuation. Should ratepayers have any concerns over the valuation outcome Council highly recommends they contact the State Valuation Service to query or lodge an objection. Call 1300 664 217 or visit qld.gov.au/environment/land/title/valuation/objections/lodge-objections
