By XAVIER SMERDON
WYNDHAM Council has agreed to review its rate strategy following pressure from residents.
And Wyndham’s chief executive has written to the Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Planning asking for an urgent review of the impact the Urban Growth Zone has on rates.
Following a fiery meeting last week attended by more than 500 residents, the council agreed to review its rating and hardship strategy.
But Mayor Kim McAliney confirmed that the council could not make any decisions regarding changes to the rating strategy while it was in caretaker mode leading up to the election in October.
As revealed by Star last month, many residents formerly living outside the Urban Growth Boundary have seen their rates skyrocket by more than 400 per cent.
Following the public meeting where the councillors were heckled and booed as they stood in front of an angry crowd, CEO Kerry Thompson said the residents had raised valid arguments.
“The movement of the Urban Growth Boundary has significantly impacted on the valuations of some properties, with some landowners seeing the value of their property increase from $2.12 million in 2010 to $14.17 million or from $702,000 to $2.7 million,” Ms Thompson said.
“Wyndham City is not in a position to make a snap decision and reduce the rates bills for one group of ratepayers and increase the rates of another group without all residents being involved in the decision.
“Residents also raised valid points in relation to the lag in providing infrastructure and the lack of support from the State and Federal Governments and we share those frustrations.”
Former Wyndham councillor and two-time Mayor Henry Barlow was at the meeting and described the situation as a “debacle”.
“I thought that the council didn’t handle it very well,” Mr Barlow told Star.
“The whole issue slipped under their guard and that amazes me.
“In my view a much better way to handle it would be to have no rate change until such time that a developer plan is put to council.
“There has to be a trigger and the trigger can’t just be that the Urban Growth Boundary has changed.”
Ms Thompson said some landowners now find themselves in a situation where it may be some years before they can realise the value of their land, however rates are required to be paid in the meantime.
“While residents may have been looking for a blanket approach, this is not possible under legislation and may also disadvantage some individuals. I strongly urge any of the affected landowners to lodge an objection or come and discuss options under Council’s Hardship Policy if there are concerns around payment of rates,” she said.
“I will immediately write to the Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Planning seeking an urgent review of the impact the Urban Growth Zone has on rates.”
Steve Davey, the Operations Manager from Opteon, a company that values properties for several Melbourne council’s to allow them to determine how much to raise rates by, said during the valuation period from January 2010 to January this year while some properties were on the market, only four sales were recorded in the direct area.
“There was more than two sales. There was actually four recorded sales in the direct area (over two years),” Mr Davey said.
Mayor Kim McAliney said the whole issue had acted as a lesson for the council.
“What’s come out of this is that we’re reviewing the rating strategy,” Cr McAliney said.
“In the interim I’ve got all the forms on my desk and I will gladly sit down with any resident who wants to talk about this or needs help.”
