CITY OF GREATER GEELONG 2012-2013 Rating StRategy

Council cannot apply an alternative rate but has the power to exempt any person from paying the whole or
part of any interest amount generally or specifically payable – LGA Section 172 (2A).
As part of the hardship provisions Council allows people who have proven financial difficulties to defer rate
payments. The interest rate for deferred rate payments is set at 6.85% for 2012-2013.
Debt Recovery - Collection of Overdue Rates
Council makes every effort to contact ratepayers at their correct address but it is the ratepayers’
responsibility to properly advise Council of their contact details. Amendments to the Local Government Act
require both the vendor and buyer of property, or their agents (e.g. solicitors), to notify Council by way of
notices of disposal and acquisition respectively.
In the event that an account becomes overdue, Council has established procedures for the issue of an
overdue final notice which may include interest pre calculated to a forward payment date.
In the event that the account remains unpaid, Council may take legal action without further notice to recover
any overdue amount. All fees and court costs are recoverable from the ratepayer.
If an amount payable by way of rates in respect to land has been in arrears for three years or more, Council
may sell the land in accordance with the Local Government Act – Section 181.
Reason for Policy: The purpose of the policy is to act as a genuine deterrent to ratepayers who might
otherwise fail to pay rates on time, to allow Council to recover the administrative cost of following up unpaid
rates and to recover any interest cost the Council may incur due to lost investment opportunities. The
principle in providing for such penalty is that ratepayers who pay within the required timeframe should not
have to subsidise or bear any cost of ratepayers who default in payment.
Rates Assistance
Rates Assistance Measures
Incentives, rebates and concessions LGA Sections 168 - 171 &171A
Council has determined that the rating framework described above is appropriate for equitable rating given
the principle of taxation by property wealth, land use groupings, other revenue raising strategies and
government funded concessions and legislative provisions and requirements.
Policy Statement: Notwithstanding the above, Council has further determined that the following rates
assistance, incentives and rebates will apply in order to provide for social inequities which are generally short
term in nature, limited to personal circumstance and for which some relief is generally accepted by the
community.
Reason for Policy: Council acknowledge that some ratepayers will experience difficulty from time to time in
meeting rate payments due to the effect of rising valuations, cost of Council services and personal
circumstance. Council further understands that rebates and relief measures have a cost to Council which
must be borne by other ratepayers either short or long term. It is for this reason that Council provides limited
assistance, rebates and incentives to assist persons or classes of person in accordance with LGA Section
171(1) and 171A.
The MAV 2010 study of the Capacity of Residential Households to Pay Rates found that the average
household rate burden is around 2.25% of expenditure. It found that the type of households that typically had
a higher rate burden were:
Owned outright (ie. without a mortgage).
Rely principally on government pensions and allowances.
Are lone person households.
Have a reference person of 65 years or over.
Have no dependant children aged under 25 years.
Council has implemented rates assistance measures to address the needs of these groups where property
taxing causes financial hardship. In particular the pension rebate, rate deferral, rate waiver and the variety of
payment options including Centrepay.
The study also recommends that the MAV develop a standard definition of hardship for rating purposes.
Page 42 Rating Strategy 2012-2013