Commercial rate information clarified

Clarifying commercial rate information

An article that appeared in this morning’s edition of The Courier comparing one of the City of Greater Geelong’s Commercial Rates and the City of Ballarat’s Commercial Rate is inaccurate due to the incorrect use of the available information.

Comparing Council rate quantifiers fails to take into consideration the complex equations used to calculate rates.

For a start, Geelong has three commercial rates while Ballarat only has one. Only the lowest commercial rate was used in this comparison. Discussing all three of Geelong’s commercial rates would have provided a more accurate picture. 

It should also be noted that the City of Greater Geelong imposes a municipal charge as part of its residential rate calculation, which the City of Ballarat does not.

The article also states it is a “problem” the City of Ballarat uses a private Geelong-based valuation company, Opteon Property Solutions, but without providing any facts to back up this claim.

Let’s clear that misinformation up.

The Valuer-General Victoria has introduced standard property data requirements for councils, under the initiative known as Valuation Best Practice.

Only qualified valuers holding recognised tertiary qualifications and with the required practical experience can perform municipal valuations. They are required to operate under the highest standards of professionalism and ethics.

Opteon, like every other valuer used by a municipality, has to abide by the strict rules of both Valuation Best Practice and the Local Government Act. The fact they are a private Geelong-based company is completely irrelevant.

The article also states that the Trades Hall building should be considered a place of assembly rather than a business for rating purposes.

All rate assessments are classified according to the Local Government Act, in the case of differential rates a Council’s rating strategy must be adhered to.  The Ballarat City Council has differential rates with a clear definition of how rate assessments are classified.  There is no ability for Council to classify rateable assessments outside of these parameters.

In relation to the Trades Hall building the rating classification has been applied using the appropriate rules.