South Australian Current Acts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1999 - SECT 167

167—Valuation of land for the purposes of rating

        (1)         A council must not declare a rate for a particular financial year without first adopting the valuations that are to apply to land within its area for rating purposes for that year.

        (2)         A council must, for the purposes of subsection (1), adopt—

            (a)         valuations made, or caused to be made, by the Valuer-General; or

            (b)         valuations made by a valuer employed or engaged by the council, or by a firm or consortium of valuers engaged by the council,

or a combination of both.

        (3)         For the purposes of subsection (2)—

            (a)         —

                  (i)         in relation to the adoption of valuations under subsection (2)(a)—the most recent valuations available to the council at the time that the council adopts its budget under this Act will govern the assessment of rates for the financial year; and

                  (ii)         in relation to the adoption of valuations under subsection (2)(b)—the valuations may be up to five years old; and

            (b)         if the council adopts a combination of valuations under subsection (2)(a) and (b)—the valuations must be consistent with any guidelines, policies or standards published by the Valuer-General by notice in the Gazette for the purposes of this section; and

            (c)         all land within a particular land use category declared by the regulations as a permissible differentiating factor must be subject to valuations adopted under subsection (2)(a) or to valuations adopted under subsection (2)(b), and not to a combination of both.

        (4)         The council may rely on an audit of valuations undertaken by the Valuer-General for the purpose of ensuring compliance with subsection (3)(b).

        (5)         Subsection (3)(c) does not apply in a case where the land use category attributed to a particular piece of land is changed following the declaration of a rate or rates for a particular financial year.

        (6)         A notice of the adoption of valuations must be published in the Gazette within 21 days after the date of the adoption.

        (7)         A notice under subsection (6) need only set out the total of the valuations.

        (8)         A valuer employed or engaged by a council for the purposes of this section must be a person who is able to act as a valuer under the Land Valuers Act 1994 .