Cherie Muir
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Hi Maria
One interpretation I have heard of is that yes because the Certificate is ‘issued’ it should be signed by the GM or the Public Officer (even if in a generic ‘per’ capacity). I’ve also seen it signed by the generating officer under delegated authority from the GM.
CherieHi all
Fun and games huh? My thinking is this:
Given that we know there is a 4-year freeze then maybe the key to clause 25 is
25(4) where it says … “it does not matter that different rating structures apply to different parcels because of subclause (2)”. Meaning we will have Residential ad valorem A (applies to the area formerly council A) and Residential ad valorem B (applies to the area formerly council B) … and so on.The new council drafts one new Op Plan and the one new Revenue Policy in the Op Plan will be an amalgam of all pre-merger rating structures (it will continue like this during the freeze period anyway).
Cherie
Hi Darryl
We do the same as Bankstown informally – all inserts need to be about ‘council’, preferably about our rates and/or finances/services. Our Communications Manager makes the call on what gets inserted.
CherieHi Michael
Currently $68 at Randwick but just like everyone else we rarely use as turn over certificates in 24-48 hrs. Not sure how it was originally set – we just index each year. It is the same price as other urgency fees (eg; 149 certs).
CherieOh good one Robert. That’s one for paying and it certainly makes good sense.
Thanks heaps
CherieHi all, happy 2016!
Quick question … has any appeal period lapsed for this case by now?
Thanks
CherieThanks for coming back to me Ken. I’m good with what is the Act s.520, s.525 and s.526 – not confused .. I’m just trying to, I guess, interpret what we do from another perspective.
My Director has asked me: “if a rate notice can be used as a declaration, does that then mean that every rate notice is a fresh declaration” …. and if that is true, then a ratepayer effectively has 30 days from the date of each Rate notice to appeal against their category in Court.”
I’ve been asked to get a legal opinion but thought I’d ask around first. Sorry if this wasn’t clear in my post.
Cherie
Hey Ken, thanks, and yep we issue a letter too for new properties (from subdivision, etc). Although in our policy we also have a catch-all saying in the absence of a letter (ie; say we failed to issue a letter) that the first Rate notice issued for the new property would serve as the declaration (with avenues of appeal etc shown on the back as necessary).
Given that we say this – and knowing that some councils rely entirely on the notice (or have at times in the past), I just wanted to check whether the rate notice as the ‘form’ of declaration had been tested yet (and I’m gathering that it hasn’t been).
So Ken, whats your thoughts on this: Does it follow that by showing the category on every Rate notice (as we have to), are we effectively ‘declaring’ the category each and every time we issue? .. and therefore, regardless of any separate and previous declaration ‘letter’, a ratepayer has 30 days from the date of any Rate notice to appeal to the L&E Court as per section 526?
I’m thinking that the answer has to be yes but would appreciate confirmation from the rating world.
Thanks again
CherieHi there …
My role has $200 per assessment for interest on non-pensioner accounts. My manager and director have delegation to write-off interest on pensioner accounts. Not sure why we delineate re pensioners but a good internal control i guess ….
We recently added a delegation for my position to carry-out abandonments re postponed
“Pursuant to S586, refer application for attributable value to the Valuer General and postpone rates in relation to S591 following the Valuer General’s determination of an attributable value. Adjust amounts payable or postponed as per S594 and write-off rates and interest postponed after 5 years as per S595”
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your posts.
CherieHi John, thanks for coming back to me … and you’re right, but I’d rather ask and get proper feedback than sit and open 100 or so Sched 2’s to then only have to make my own assumptions.
Hello Amy
I agree it would be great if we had legislative clarity here, I do not envy you Amy as these ones are tricky.
some quick thoughts below –
– despite what they call themselves what consent do they have as per their DA? What does their DA say about their permitted operation and site set up and configuration?
– check if you’ve got any definitions of what they call themselves, say, does your council define a ‘bed & breakfast’ or ‘guest house’ under its LEP? Any definitions anywhere else, like the EP&A Act?
– could the VG apply a MDAF to the situation?
– you’re wanting to determine ‘dominant use’, have you got them to fill in an declaration about how they use the site and provide you with info. like their tariffs, no. of rooms, days of the year operating, occupancy rates, services provided, etc (ie, how intense is their accommodation operation v their operation of residing their themselves).
– look at the rental aspect … how much annual rent would they get for their residence v how much annual income they get their ‘bed and breakfast/guest accommodation’ operation.If your research and gut feeling makes you believe that the dominant use is commercial then try to work with them in a way that leads to proof of that (difficult, yes, but worth a try).
If your area is getting more and more of this scenario it would be great if you could get a policy developed because whatever you do ‘do’ – you’ll want to be able to be consistent. Maybe there are some policies out there already that you could look at – maybe Jane at Byron Bay Council has a policy for this.
Overall – whatever decision is made you want to be able to think you could defend it in Court … you might consider getting a legal opinion if you haven’t already.
Good luck with it Amy.
Cherie
Hi Lee
A lot of councils have policies based on separate occupancy (that work well for most cases) although our Act clearly says that Domestic Waste may apply separately to each ‘rateable parcel’ irrespective of the policies we adopt. I’d say that your retirement village is only one or a couple rateable parcels at most?
Like you we have a policy of charging waste on occupancy despite the Act and in the past couple years our practice was brought to the attention of the OLG. (At the time we were pushing a second charge on to dual occupancy properties.) The OLG worked with us – agreeing in some circumstances and not in others …eg; they understood why we were changing on occupancy in the case of a 12 unit residential flat building that was not yet strata subdivided, but tut-tutted us for pushing an extra set of bins on granny flats. Ultimately the OLG said something like … ‘take caution when not covered by the Act – always work with the owner and charge additional services in agreement with the owner’.
That’s my experience anyway …. where it is reasonable go for it and where there is room for negotiation do that. Does your policy say that it may be varied and by whom from time to time? Maybe the waste manager could come to a Win/Win arrangement that gets documented well.
Food for thought.
Regards
CherieLinda … looks like the only year since 2004-05 you’re missing (between Andrew Butcher’s collation and the IPART web site) is 2010-11. Maybe Helen Pearce from the OLG could help you with the 2010-11 year or there may even be an old OLG media release that summarises the SRV’s approved by the Minister that year. Randwick definitely had an SRV approval in 2010-11.
Hi Linda
Following on from Robert, IPART has the history from 2011-12 (from when they took over from the OLG in the determination of SRV’s). You probably have found this already, but here is the link:
Cherie
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