Thur 13.09.12 - wed 19.09.12
everyone reads the wanaka sun
free
inside:
Water under threat
page 3
Record breaker
Bendigo bride on tour page 5
Rate replacement Tim Brewster
A flood of separations page 7
Snow day page 8
rental listings
sunclassifieds
page 15
The flow on affect from the QLDC rates re-assessment with its as yet unknown policy changes has created uncertainty and will create extra work, delays and cost in the areas of property settlement, Aspiring Law partner Janice Hughes said. “There will be more work making apportionments on the values of those rates which is a necessary part of a settlement. With the current apportionments we have no way of knowing what they will be. The expected practice is to use the past year’s rates according to the traditional increase in the area and estimate it as best they can. At the moment there is uncertainty as we can’t use last years rates and the rates that we have this year may be wrong. How did they get it so wrong? The valuations have been out for a long time.”
QLDC acting chief executive Stewart Burns said the correct valuations may have been set in November last year but there had been changes as property owners and valuers had been re-assessing them. The final values were confirmed in July and that
advice the council started going through the required process to replace the existing ones with ratepayers still obliged to pay their first instalment. Public submissions will be required with a final decision made at a council meeting on October 30 he said.
How did they get it so wrong? The valuations have been out for a long time. process was happening at the same time as the changes in rates policies were happening. “It’s unavoidable I’m afraid, there may need to be an adjustment,” he said when asked about the effect on property settlements. “The difficulty is the rating proposal is not confirmed.” The current rates with discrepancies of up to 20 percent in both directions have not yet been deemed invalid. After taking legal
The process of sending out an invoice with a request for a first instalment based on an estimate before rates are set can be fairly common for councils Janice said, provided the final figure is correct. Under the local Government Rating Act 2002, the total revenue in the replacement rates cannot be more than the original ones set.
Sophie Fairburn breaks the Otago record for 50m breaststroke, story page 12.
photo: tony preston
New fixed fees for consents proposed Tim Brewster Proposed new set fees for QLDC resource consents is expected to increase compliance costs for smaller projects but will make the process cheaper for larger, more complicated building jobs. Currently applying for a rural residential controlled land use consent requires a deposit of $1025 with any additional work on the application charged out at the Lakes Environmental rate of $117.30 per hour for planning and monitoring. Under the proposed new change an applicant would pay a set fee of $1500 which would increase to $2100 for restricted discretionary applications, $2500 for discretionary and $2600 for non-complying applications plus any additional hearing costs. “The level of price is high for
minor projects like a carport or a pergola, but for larger rural residential buildings, then this fixed fee will be a good thing,” Wanaka architect Eliska Lewis said. The all zones, all activities, average price for processing a non-notified consent in the last two years has been $1982.89, according to Lakes Environmental chief executive Hamish Dobbie. The regulatory body ran a survey over 12 months to pinpoint areas of dissatisfaction for resource consent applicants. Three key areas were identified: the overall complexity of the process, the requiring of more information after the consent was lodged, and unexpected fees charged. Hamish said the first proposed change was to address the issue of unexpected fees. Story continues page 3...