Draft Plan would add 10 cents a day to average rate
Property revaluation
across the city makes it difficult to show how the average residential rates
bill will be effected by the proposed rates increase.
The over-all proposed increase in the Council’s rate
requirement, to apply from July 1, is 3.55 per cent. Each year the Council looks at how each sector of the city
benefits from its services and divides its budget between
them. That means different sectors face different changes in
their rates. Under the draft plan, the residential sector’s increase would
be 4.24 per cent, commercial/industrial ratepayers are being
asked to consider a 1.28 per cent rise and the city’s rural
sector rate faces an 11.65 per cent increase. Following the revaluation, the average city residential
property is worth $164,170. If the Council’s proposed 2003
rates package is adopted in July, that average property will pay
rates of $918 a year. The figure includes GST but does not
include the Environment Canterbury (regional council) rate. After allowing for movements in revaluation, that $918 is a $37
a year increase over the current year – about 71 cents a week. |