A TARNEIT landowner has had the value of her property reduced by half a million dollars after appealing her council rates.
Coralie Porter received a rates notice earlier this year which valued her land at $1.2 million.
The increase in the worth of her land resulted in her rates bill doubling from about $2000 in 2011-12 to $4000 this year.
Mrs Porter asked the council to revalue her land after refusing to pay this year’s bill.
Last week, she received a letter from the council’s valuer informing her that her property was valued at $698,000.
All Wyndham properties were revalued earlier this year, with many in the north of the city recording significant increases.
As reported by the Weekly, property values in parts of Mount Cottrell and Tarneit rose because a 2010 Growth Areas Authority decision to bring them inside Melbourne’s urban growth boundary meant they could be sold to developers. But precinct structure plans for the area will not be completed until next year, meaning land cannot be sold in the forseeable future.
Mrs Porter said the initial valuation had failed to take into account a creek which ran through her property, preventing parts of it from being developed.
She has called for greater accuracy in land valuations, saying she experienced stress and angst when faced with a rates bill for $4000.
“I was never going to be able to sell my land to a developer for another 20 years so I wouldn’t have been able to pay my rates. The council had agreed to let us pay last year’s rates plus 5.5 per cent but they were still charging us interest on the remainder of this year’s bill. My husband and I are retired and we were getting hit with a double rates bill that we couldn’t pay.”
Mrs Porter is one of 117 urban growth zone landholders who have appealed valuations since receiving this year’s rates notice.
Mayor Heather Marcus said 295 people across the city appealed their rates, up from 54 people when properties were last valued in 2010.
Valuer Stephen Davey, of valuers Opteon , said the valuation process required 33 per cent of properties in Wyndham to be inspected every two years, meaning each property was visited every six years.
The council is expected to receive an update on its appeal process next Monday, when it will also determine how it will review its rating strategy. —Laura Little
