About 4000 Wyndham property owners have been warned that their council rates could increase by more than 20 per cent.
Wyndham council has written to commercial and industrial land owners informing them that due to recent property valuations they could see a spike in their rates.
A property owner who received one of the notices told
Star Weekly that businesses would struggle to absorb the costs.
“I can tell you now that the current economic climate is not good, especially in retail, and tenants are going to say, ‘How can I pay an extra 20 per cent?’” the property owner said. “We want to know how they came up with that rate rise.
“Also, as far as we know, only people who will have a rate rise of more than 20 per cent have received one of these letters, so we don’t even know about the people who have rises of around 19 per cent.”
Wyndham council’s sustainable development director, Dean Rochfort, confirmed that 4000
landowners had been sent the notices.
“There has been no change in Wyndham City’s rating structure this financial year in calculating rates on commercial and industrial properties,” Mr Rochfort said.
“On average, commercial and industrial properties in Wyndham have seen an increase in their valuation, but this is not across the board and properties are reviewed on a case by case basis.”
Mr Rochfort said other Wyndham residents would actually see the amount they pay in rates go down. “In contrast to the approximately 4000 ratepayers who may experience a rate rise of 20 per cent or more, 26,000 ratepayers will experience a decrease in their rates and an additional 33,000 ratepayers will experience an increase of less than 5 per cent.
“An increase in property valuations can be taken as a positive sign, as it indicates there is rising demand for property in Watton Street.”
