Serious consideration is being given to changing the rating basis for the Central Otago District Council.
The Local Government Rates inquiry (the Shand Report) Recommendation 9 is promoting a common rating system, based on capital value, across the country.
The CODC executive committee heard yesterday that the council was unique among local authorities with its mix of land and capital values for rating purposes.
The council assesses its rates using a mix of land value (23%), capital value (14%) and fixed charges (63%).
CODC accountant Trevor Goudie told the meeting the general rate accounted for $2.7 million, of 15.3%, of the total $17.6 million of rates collected.
That rate was used to fund roading, excluding that collected through the uniform charge.
The non-rate income of council effectively more than funded all the rate requirements of the general rate, other than roading.
Mr Goudie said if roading was structured as a separate rate, the general rate would be negative.
A calculation had been done of rates using capital value as opposed to land value.
The council had previously indicated that any change in rates of more than 10% and over $200 was an extreme.
There were 734 properties on the extreme list, but just 150, or 1.1%, of all ratepayers, would experience a change of more than 10%.
If a recommendation was made to change the rating system, that would need to go to public consultation in advance of the public consultation for the 2009-19 community plan.
The committee agreed to consider the rating basis of the general rate as part of its revenue and financing policy review.
