Another property rates shocker on the cards?
It's said the municipality will continue the process of supplementary property evaluation of agricultural properties this January.
Agricultural property owners can expect another shock in the mail as the process of supplementary property evaluation has started yet again.
On 6 July 2018, the Herald reported that the Rand West City Local Municipality (RWCLM) was in the process of implementing a supplementary property evaluation roll in agricultural areas. In terms of section 78 of the Municipal Property Rates Act 6 of 2004 (MPRAA), supplementary valuations can be made to correct previous substantially incorrect general valuations. This can result in a change of category of property.
The municipality restarted this process in January, following DA councillors Alwyn van Tonder and Gerhard Kruger’s complaints that the municipality hadn’t followed the correct procedures.
According to the councillors, the municipality didn’t inform the property owners of these supplementary property valuations correctly the first time. Kruger said that the municipality was supposed to inform the public via postal mail but that they didn’t follow this process.
There was a lot of unhappiness in the community and we had a lot of meetings with community members as well as the RWCLM. We even submitted a petition to the Municipal Manager.
“In November, the municipality announced that it would put the process on hold until it was able to start over and follow the correct steps.”
Van Tonder is still opposed to the supplementary property valuations because it will have a negative financial impact on many property owners. He said that they are doing what they can to make sure all the correct steps are being followed.”We will make sure that the process is correct, fair and lawful,” Van Tonder said.
According to Tshidiso Thlaripe, spokesperson for the Executive Mayor of RWCLM, a process to assess each agricultural property against the valuation roll and its current land use is under way.
“Where discrepancies were found in terms of the MPRAA, the owner was notified of the incorrectness and changes were made. Where there were objections, owners were encouraged to lodge such with the municipality. However, the two DA councillors requested that the municipality revisit the process of notifying owners through the normal mail, as is done with rates and taxes, as was done in the initial stages,” he said.
“Please take note that most agricultural holdings are still categorised as such, while the use has changed over time. The MPRAA and Town Planning Regulations require that in the event that the use changes, owners must inform the municipality through the rezoning process, but many owners do not rezone accordingly, which affects the municipal rates policy and town planning laws,” he added.
Kruger encouraged community members who have already received statements that show a change of property category to submit a handwritten objection accompanied by photographs and an affidavit at the municipality. Pensioners can also still apply for rebates at the municipality.
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