City Hall retains independent valuator

Nov 02, 2010 News

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– Hopes to reassess and re-value properties

The service of an independent valuator has been retained by the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC) as part of the entity’s effort to reassess and revalue properties within the city. The efforts are likely to commence this week.
According to Deputy Mayor Robert Williams, all properties that fall within the boundaries of North Road, D’Urban Street, Water Street and Vlissengen Road that have changed from residences to businesses will be re-valued and re-assessed by the independent valuator.
Based on the findings of the valuator, Williams said that assessment notices will be sent out to property owners requesting back-dated payment for such properties.
The move came following a survey which was carried out by the municipality in the aforementioned areas. The survey, according to Williams, had discovered that a number of properties have been transformed to commercial operations.
According to the Deputy Mayor, in such areas, the municipality should have been collecting some $18M per year but is only in receipt, if it is paid at all, of a mere $5M per year.
“When you assess on average going back three to four years, it is over $66M we should have garnered for commercial operations in these areas but we are only getting $24M under the base document we have, which is residential,” Williams opined.
And Williams stressed, this situation has been allowed to worsen as the municipality has not been able to obtain the Valuation Roll under the Urban Development Programme, which he disclosed has been reportedly completed since 2003. The Valuation Roll, Williams said, is a complete assessment of all the properties in Georgetown and done in a scientific way by means of a capital mode as against rental mode, with digitised accommodation of information. Through this valuation, properties are identified both in terms of picture and statistics on what they are for the purpose of assessment, which the municipality has not been able to engage.
“You may ask the question, ‘How is it that we are able to survive?’ But we have been able to maximise our collections operation on existing properties in the city. Our collection rate as a result has gone up to 84 percent in the past couple of years which has helped. But how much can we carry on when all the roads still need to be repaired, canals need to be re-dug, buildings, including City Hall and the Kitty Market need to be repaired? We cannot pursue these things because the revenue has not changed.”
Williams explained that the municipality has been increasing its rates collection by battling to unearth the millions that have been escaping its grasp over the years. But, in the absence of the new valuation the municipality has commenced physical checks around the city, a process which has revealed that some residence are now schools, private residences and even businesses.
“Some are recorded and registered as businesses….Some are schools such as the Government Technical Institute and the Richard Ishmael School that are not of a taxable nature, but we are doing some verification with a view to approaching the government to discuss the cost on the occupancy of those properties..”
At the moment, the estimated value of the outstanding rates and taxes has amounted to a sum surpassing $2.1B.
And in order to boost the municipality’s effort, Williams said that the introduction of the new Valuation Roll was brought up for discussion with Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Kellawan Lall. And this move, the Deputy Mayor had revealed, is crucial as even the revenue generated by the municipal markets cannot be utilised to fund the municipal operations.
He disclosed that the revenue from the markets have to be utilised in part to finance their maintenance. And this is particularly important for the Stabroek Market, Williams said, which some time ago warranted $240M maintenance work which was sourced through the Inter-American Development Bank Urban Development Programme, thus the need to ensure that enough money is always available to keep it in an acceptable condition.
However, in the past moneys generated at that very market were diverted to the municipal coffers to carry out municipal works, a practice which cannot be continued, Williams said. More than $2.1B in rates and taxes is owed to the M&CC and according to the Deputy Mayor, who is also Chairman of the Finance Committee, efforts will be made this year to garner as much outstanding funds as possible. In order to recover the funds, Williams disclosed that the municipality will be looking to have its records reviewed and verified this year. It was the expectation that a new valuation which was proposed by the IDB would have already been in effect.
The Deputy Mayor had previously revealed that the municipality is being starved of several millions of dollars which it should have garnered from commercial operations in the city over the past three years. And this state of affairs, he emphasized, is likely to continue until the new valuation is put into place.
“These properties are recorded in our database as residences but are now being used as businesses; be it auto dealers, restaurants, salons, all sorts of things. So they are recorded by us as having to pay 40 percent of their assessed value but are in fact businesses that should be paying 250 percent, and this has been happening over four to five years,” Williams divulged.

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