Officers, legal advice supports rating village folk

Written by STEVEN BURKE. - Wangaratta Chronicle 16 Feb 09

ST JOHN’S Village residents will be hit with council rates later this year, if Rural City of Wangaratta councillors follow council officers’ recommendations and legal advice.

A report to go to council at tomorrow night’s meeting in Edi Upper recommends council begin extracting rates from more than 100 previously unrated residential units beginning in the 2009/10 financial year.

There are currently 19 residential units being rated at St John’s Village, which has been the case since 2002/03.

A further 31 have never been rated, while another 78 units are caught up in council’s valuation process.

It is expected there will be more than 200 units on completion of the "terrace" development.

Council has sought legal advice over its intention to impose the rates, after the proposal met with opposition from St John’s Village residents and Ken Jasper (MLA, Murray Valley).

If council does impose rates on the residents, it would overturn a 1968 decision by the Shire of Wangaratta, which declared the village exempt from rates.

But the report states council has received new legal advice from Maddocks Lawyers, which advises that changes to the Local Government Act since 1968 "and a number of court decisions, would make the shire’s legal advice outdated".

The report refers to section 154 of the Local Government Act, which states that all land is rateable, except if it is used exclusively for charitable purposes.

It also discusses the possibility of council applying a concessional rating arrangement to St John’s Village, but concedes the residents are not eligible to qualify for the rating concession, which currently benefits groups including Baptist Social Services and Uniting Care Goulburn North East.

"Concessional rating was adopted as part of council’s 1996/97 rating strategy and should be reviewed with the intention of implementing a consistent rating approach to those organisations providing aged and low income housing," the report states.

There is expected to be strong debate over the adoption of the proposal, with councillors Rozi Parisotto and Lauren O’Neill previously speaking out against it, while Crs Roberto Paino and Lisa McInerney have indicated they were in favor of rating the units in the same way as other homes.