Land Values increase across the Shire
Published on 13 March 2023
If you are a landowner in the Lachlan Shire you would have recently received your Notice of Valuation from the NSW Valuer General.
The Valuer General is responsible for providing independent and impartial land values for use by State and local governments for taxes and rates. Those values do not include the value of a home, or other structures or improvements on the land.
Lachlan Shire Council General Manager Greg Tory said, “Landowners receive the Notice of Valuation showing their land value before it is used by Council for rating. The total land valuations across Lachlan Shire rose by 61 percent between 1 July 2019 and 1 July 2022. The new valuations will be used to calculate the rates that will be charged over the next three financial years, commencing in the 2023/24 financial year. However, it is important to note that if your land value increases, it doesn’t necessarily mean your Ordinary (Land) Rates will rise by the same percentage.
“The impact on individual rate assessments will depend on the change in land value and changes in other rating categories. The increase in general rates that Council can collect from one year to the next is limited by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) and known as the rate peg. Therefore, even though land values have increased significantly, Council must adjust the rate calculation so that general rate income does not exceed the rate peg.”
Mr Tory said the increase in land valuations was good news for Lachlan Shire, showing the region was not only holding its own, but growing.
How much your land rates may increase, or in some cases decrease is impacted by certain criteria, such as:
- limits to increases in Council rates set by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART);
- council’s differential rating structure, including the rating category for individual properties,
- changes in a property’s land value compared to the average increase of other properties in the same category; and
- IPART approved Special Rate Variations or catch-ups.
Each property in the Lachlan Shire falls into one of the following differential rating categories.
To calculate the Ordinary (Land) Rates, Council uses the land values supplied by the NSW Valuer General.
Ordinary rates in the Lachlan Shire are calculated on a 2 part basis:
1. A base rate per assessment; plus
2. The property’s land value multiplied by the rate in the $1 (known as the ad valorem rate)
As an example:
Property land value (say $50,000) x rate in the dollar (currently 0.017559) + Base rate $289 = $1,166.95 plus service charges for water, sewer, waste and stormwater.
Landowners wanting to know more about their land value should call the office of the Valuer General, Department of Lands on 1800 110 038, or visit the Valuer General’s website.
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