No quick fix to Hastings area's rates hike: Yule

Commercial Havelock North ratepayers will have no immediate relief for their unexpected rates hike - with increases as high as 133 per cent.
The spike in commercial property rates in Havelock North would be dealt with as part of the city's district annual plan, Hastings District Council decided last week.
A report from council chief financial officer Tony Gray offered four options to the council: reduce the amount of rates payable, postpone payment, waive penalties for late payment and, the chosen option, consider the matter in the 2011/12 annual plan consultation process.
Rates were based on valuations carried out for the council by property valuers Quotable Value (QV) as part of a three-yearly review required by law.
Property owners, upset at having to pass on the increase to embattled tenants, had called into question the valuing process by Quotable Value, even though it had been audited by the Government's Office of the Valuer General.
About 40 people met to hear Bevan Pickett from QV discuss the increases on April 18.
Another meeting was held with the Hastings District Council, led by Mayor Lawrence Yule, to consider ways of lessening the burden the rates rise had caused.
At the meeting council officers decided to allow late objection notices to be lodged, with financial assistance provided by council and QV.
There were 46 Havelock North commercial properties with land value increases, the average increase was 24 per cent.
This followed the Nimon Bus depot sale in Martin Place that sold for $9 million in April 2008 which equated to $556/sq m. A bare site on Porter Drive sold for $721,000 in December 2009 - $682/sq m.