Unique IDFN-0005Description***This function applies to all Councils***
For Councils other than Sydney City Council, absorbed by the City by 1949, see function FUN 29 for details.
Rates are property taxes collected by local governments, usually set according to the value of the property. Government land or buildings, churches and schools are exempt from rates.
In order to determine the amount of rates to be levied, Council is required to assess the values of rateable property in the City, so that periodic assessments are part of the rating function. Assessments, also known as valuations, sometimes record property details such as construction type, land dimensions, and names of owner and occupier. Until about 1950, Council undertook its own valuations/assessments. Subsequently it has relied on valuations made by the NSW Valuation Department.
The 1842 legislation required rates to be set at a percentage of the fair average annual value of buildings, free of outgoings. Subsequent revisions to local government law have periodically altered the basis for levying rates: the Sydney Corporation Act 1879 s103 extended rating liability to land as well as buildings; and the Local Government Act 1919 altered the basis of rating to a levy on unimproved capital value of land.
A more detailed analysis of rating powers, focussing on the frequent changes made by legislation since 1842, is available at the City of Sydney Archives..CreationSydney Corporation Act 1842 ss67, 70, 74, 76, 89: Authorised the Council to assess building values, set and levy rates (city [ie general purpose], lighting, water and police rates) at a percentage of building values, and take action for non-payment of rates.
Local Government (Boundaries) Act 1948 (Division 7): Property valuations to be conducted by NSW Valuer-General, not by the Council.
Local Government Act 1993 chapter 15 parts 1-10, ss 491-607: Authorises and prescribes forms of rating and property valuation.
