Home owners in Waipukurau can expect a big hike in rates from July. Photo / NZME
Home owners in Waipukurau can expect a big hike in rates from July. Photo / NZME
Central Hawke's Bay home owners will see an increase in their rates of at least $400 per year, due largely to house valuations going through the roof, mayor Alex Walker says.
Councils check the value of all properties within their district roughly every three years, then use those new valuationsto help guide how much they charge each property in rates.
Central Hawke's Bay and Wairoa district councils recently completed that process which will impact rates bills from July 1.
Hastings District Council and Napier City Council do their property valuations on different years, meaning their rates won't be impacted by new valuations until July 2023 and July 2024 respectively.
Updated property valuations don't result in councils collecting more money overall but rather help councils reshuffle how they spread their rates across different properties.
Central Hawke's Bay District Council has warned home owners within its district to expect a higher than usual rates increase from July, as house prices have increased by 128 per cent over the past three years.
In comparison, commercial properties have only gone up 50 per cent and dairy blocks 20 per cent.
Mayor Walker said home owners can expect "at least $400" more on their rates bill per year as a result.
CHB Mayor Alex Walker says there is nothing that can be done in the short term about the big hike in rates for home owners. Photo / NZME
"We have seen a dramatic increase in the value of urban and lifestyle properties compared to rural areas and it means that they will now pick up a larger proportion of the rates requirement for the district."
Walker said unfortunately they received their latest property valuations later than anticipated, by a matter of months, from valuation company Quotable Value (QV).
She said that meant they did not have sufficient time to adjust their rates structure by July and avoid passing on such a big hike to home owners.
"There is very, very little that we can do in the short term."
Some properties such as commercial properties or farms may see a reduction in rates in CHB.
It comes as the council is looking to increase its overall rates income by 6.8 per cent for 2022/23.
Meanwhile, the Wairoa District Council has seen a similar spike in house values following its latest property valuations, which have roughly doubled in the past three years.
However, Wairoa mayor Craig Little said a rates review done just over a year ago had set them up well to adjust the way they spread out their rates, to take into consideration people's incomes and other factors.
