Buffalo City Metro has embarked on another general valuation (GV) of properties – and this time the metro has promised that all properties will be physically inspected.
The first GV was conducted in 2009 with the second in 2013. BCM residents have been informed via their account notices, that property valuers and data collectors would visit properties to update property information from January to July 2017.
“They will identify themselves by means of ID cards and letters of delegation,” the notice read.
BCM spokesman Sibusiso Cindi told the Saturday Dispatch yesterday that BCM had budgeted about R22-million for GV this year.
“The metro plans to do additional things this time around, for example, the previous GV was done in house, in terms of Section 45 of the Municipal Property Rates Act, and physical inspection was not done on all properties.
“However in the GV 2017, all properties will be visited and data collected on site,” said Cindi. However not everyone has received the news of the GV well.
A Dispatch reader who identified himself as Brian in a letter to the editor this week said the idea was “a waste of taxpayers’ money”.
“Just a few years ago, they wasted millions of ratepayers’ money on these people, who conducted valuations of our properties.
“Surely, whoever is behind these arrangements to re-evaluate our properties, must have their heads read,” Brian wrote. He said that BCM needed only to go to their own town planning department and ask for a print of all the plans that were passed from the last evaluations until now “and re-evaluate only those properties, and adjust those people’s accounts accordingly”.
The East London Ratepayers’ Association and Border-Kei Chamber of Business assured their support of the initiative yesterday.
Border-Kei Chamber of Business’s Les Holbrook, however, said they would be watching the process very closely to ensure the results were correct, accurate and fair. “It is not in anyone’s interest to have a municipality that is bankrupt however we want the process to be transparent, fair and accurate.
“It is inevitable that the rates will go up but we have to know how the amounts were reached,” Holbrook said. The evaluation is due for completion and implementation on July 1 2018.
It will assist the metro to calculate rates (property tax) once the property value has been determined. Property owners will also know the value of their properties.
“It is legislated in terms of the MPRA that a municipality intending to levy a rate on property must conduct a general valuation of all properties,” Cindi said.
He added that work had already started with data collection of all sectional schemes done. “Data collectors are currently working in the midland region,” said Cindi.
Residents have been warned that the property valuers and data collectors would not visit on Sundays or public holidays. The properties will be visited between 7.30am and 7pm.
The valuers will collect data and measure properties where necessary to update records, confirm property details with residents and obtain current ownership information.
Outcry over BCM's property valuation inspection
The first GV was conducted in 2009 with the second in 2013. BCM residents have been informed via their account notices, that property valuers and data collectors would visit properties to update property information from January to July 2017.
“They will identify themselves by means of ID cards and letters of delegation,” the notice read.
BCM spokesman Sibusiso Cindi told the Saturday Dispatch yesterday that BCM had budgeted about R22-million for GV this year.
“The metro plans to do additional things this time around, for example, the previous GV was done in house, in terms of Section 45 of the Municipal Property Rates Act, and physical inspection was not done on all properties.
“However in the GV 2017, all properties will be visited and data collected on site,” said Cindi. However not everyone has received the news of the GV well.
A Dispatch reader who identified himself as Brian in a letter to the editor this week said the idea was “a waste of taxpayers’ money”.
“Just a few years ago, they wasted millions of ratepayers’ money on these people, who conducted valuations of our properties.
“Surely, whoever is behind these arrangements to re-evaluate our properties, must have their heads read,” Brian wrote. He said that BCM needed only to go to their own town planning department and ask for a print of all the plans that were passed from the last evaluations until now “and re-evaluate only those properties, and adjust those people’s accounts accordingly”.
The East London Ratepayers’ Association and Border-Kei Chamber of Business assured their support of the initiative yesterday.
Border-Kei Chamber of Business’s Les Holbrook, however, said they would be watching the process very closely to ensure the results were correct, accurate and fair. “It is not in anyone’s interest to have a municipality that is bankrupt however we want the process to be transparent, fair and accurate.
“It is inevitable that the rates will go up but we have to know how the amounts were reached,” Holbrook said. The evaluation is due for completion and implementation on July 1 2018.
It will assist the metro to calculate rates (property tax) once the property value has been determined. Property owners will also know the value of their properties.
“It is legislated in terms of the MPRA that a municipality intending to levy a rate on property must conduct a general valuation of all properties,” Cindi said.
He added that work had already started with data collection of all sectional schemes done. “Data collectors are currently working in the midland region,” said Cindi.
Residents have been warned that the property valuers and data collectors would not visit on Sundays or public holidays. The properties will be visited between 7.30am and 7pm.
The valuers will collect data and measure properties where necessary to update records, confirm property details with residents and obtain current ownership information.
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