Council Clarifies Relationship Between Land Valuations and Rates

With half-yearly residential rates notices to be arriving in Mount Isa letterboxes in the coming days, Council wishes to clarify the relationship between land valuations and rates.

The State Valuation Service – a part of the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy – earlier this year released its latest land valuations data for Mount Isa, which show an average 44 percent reduction in value of residential land blocks across the city, compared to the previous valuations from 2016. The new valuations came into effect on June 30 this year.

Mayor Danielle Slade said Councils do not base their revenue from property revaluations, they collect the amount determined in their budgets.

An increase in property values will not necessarily increase the amount of money a Council collects in rates, nor will a decrease see a drop in revenue the council collects. This is because Council recalculates the rate in the dollar it charges property owners. The rate in the dollar calculation depends on the amount of money the Council needs to meet its obligations to the community.

“Council needs to cover costs associated with delivering essential services, such as twice-weekly rubbish collections to residential properties or undertaking maintenance and repair work to our water and sewerage systems across the city,” Cr Slade said.

“Whether land valuations increase or decrease significantly, we still need a to deliver a high level of essential services, facilities and infrastructure to all Mount Isa residents year after year, and the costs associated with that are fairly constant.

“And for this financial year’s Budget, in acknowledgement of the difficulties many have faced, and continue to face, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Council resolved to implement a zero overall residential rate increase, ensuring consistency and certainty for ratepayers.”

For more information, please contact Council’s Finance Department on 4747 3200.