Rotorua District Council wants the community’s feedback on the way it calculates the rates it collects from property owners in the district.

At the moment you pay rates calculated only on the value of your land. The proposed system would instead see rates charged on a capital value rating system, which the council believes is fairer and more sustainable in the long term. More than half the councils in New Zealand already use capital value rating.

Capital value rating takes into account the improvements (which include buildings, houses, factories, milking sheds and the like) as well as the value of your land, to calculate your rates.

Under this system some people in the district would pay more rates, most would pay about the same and many would pay less than they do now.

The information in the documents you can download here sets out questions and answers about the proposed change to our rating system. We urge you to read all the information, attend information sessions and send us your comments. It is important for you to tell us what you think – including whether you support or oppose the proposal - as all this information helps your councillors come to a decision.

Once the council has heard what you think about the proposal we can include a preferred form of rating in our revenue and finance policy in the next draft Ten Year Plan (more formally called Long Term Council Community Plan) for 2009-2019.

To see what your rates would have been this year, if they had been calculated on capital value, click the Capital Value Rate Comparator. 

You can enter your street name or by entering the first five numbers of your valuation number, you can see how other properties in your area could be affected.

If you think you are going to make some changes to your property, use the Capital Value Rate Calculator.

Select either the Residential/Farming or Commercial/Industrial option, then enter the value of the improvement.  The additional amount of 'capital value general rate increase' will be calculated for you.

 
Rating Review documents and submission form: (please note: the submission has been extended to 25 July 2008)

Summary of Statement of Proposal (191KB) - this document summarises key points from the proposal and gives some examples of how the proposed rates system may work.

Full Statement of Proposal (296KB) - this provides all the information you will need to understand the proposed system.

Submission form (68KB) - you can print this, fill it in and send it back to us - whether you support or oppose the proposal, it is important that we get a good cross section of feedback.

Online submission - if you now know what you want to tell us, please click this link to complete and submit the online submission form.

Ecomonic Impact Assessment Report (310KB) - This document is and independent assessment of the possible impact of councils proposed model (CV234) on business

Chamber of Commerce Capital Value Rate Calculator - This calculator is based on the Chamber of Commerce alternative capital value model