The City of Ballarat’s commercial rate multiplier is twice that of the the City of Geelong, and it must damage business investment, says Ballarat Trades Hall secretary Brett Edgington.
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Mr Edgington was offering comparisons between the rates paid by the Trades Hall of Ballarat on its historic Camp Street property and one of a similar value and function in Geelong.
City of Ballarat has a commercial rate multiplier of .010764, compared to Geelong’s .005725. The rate multiplier is a figure calculated by council or its appointed valuer, by which council attains the amount of rates it desires by multiplying the lettable value of commercial buildings.
For example, if council wanted to raise $20 million in rates, and the lettable commercial space was valued at $2 billion, the commercial rate multiplier would be .0100.
Trades Hall’s current improved value is $1.248 million, and pays rates of $14,522, including the mandated fire levy.
A similarly-valued, similarly utilised building in Geelong attracts rates of $9,140, $5,382 less. This includes an extra ‘central activities area levy’ of $892 as well as services and fire levy.
Mr Edgington says the discrepancy must be considered in whether Ballarat is turning business away through overcharging for rates.
He says Trades Hall has its own arguments with the rating system, attesting the building should be declared a ‘place of assembly’ rather than a business.
“We’re a not-for-profit organisation; there’s a lot of community use in the hall,” says Mr Edgington.
“The only commercial lease is the lawyers on the first floor, which helps pay our bills. The problem is the City of Ballarat tenders out all its valuations to a private company in Geelong, Opteon Property Solutions.
“There are other community groups that get rate reductions; they are places of assembly or restricted assembly. The Mechanics’ Institute is a bit different because it’s on Crown land.
“That reclassification would drop our rates to around $5,000, but the City of Ballarat refuses to do that and says we are an office building. But we also have heritage and historical encumbrances on the building which limit its value.”
The Courier has submitted questions to, and is awaiting responses from, the City of Ballarat and Opteon.
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