Springvale property gets $2174 rates increase thanks to rezoning

Parts of Springvale have been rezoned from rural lifestyle to residential which impacts homeowners' rates. Photo / Bevan Conley

While Whanganui property owners are facing average rates rise of 7.9 per cent, some who live on recently rezoned properties are facing substantially more.

Lincoln Paul is facing a whopping $2174 rates increase on his Fox Rd property. This year his projected rates shot up to $5617.21 - last year he paid $3443.

“I’m not suggesting the council is doing the wrong thing or penalising anyone, but this is the reality,” he said.

Whanganui District Council’s chief financial officer Mike Fermor said parts of Springvale had been rezoned from rural lifestyle to general residential.

As a result, the valuation of Paul’s house had gone up from $500,000 to $1.3 million.

“I have spoken to a lot of my neighbours and they have either accepted it in resignation, or decided immediately to find ways to bring in extra income.”

Fermor said the minimum land area for a house zoned as residential was 400m², which was a decrease from 5000m² for rural zoning.

“Obviously, a large section of residential land could be subdivided into many more sections than the same sized rural lifestyle land, and would therefore likely have a greater value, as in the case of the Fox Rd property.”

Paul purchased the land in 1983, and had not had any plans to subdivide the section in his lifetime.

His proposed rates bill had changed this.

“I’ve just got to face up to it now.

“I’m going to be pushed into it really because of the costs that are involved with just sitting on it as it stands, I’ve either got to consider selling or subdividing.

“If I subdivide it’s going to be an expensive process, it’s not just a case of calling a surveyor in to cut the land up, it’s got to have a lot of modification.”

Paul said he was involved in very preliminary talks about subdividing the property but had no concrete plan at this stage.

“The last time I had any information from the council I was advised that the land on the southern side of Fox Rd was being reclassified, but they weren’t coming across the northern side.”

He had lodged a complaint with QV about the property valuation which reduced the land valuation by $260,000.

But Paul said regardless, the rates increase would make his finances for this year “very tight”.

“With all the other cost increases we have at the moment I’m going to be pushed.”

Fermor said when properties were valued as part of the district valuation, they were assessed on what the market would likely pay for that property if it was offered for sale at the time.

“This is termed the ‘highest and best use’ concept which means, regardless of how an owner currently uses their property, the value to the market would be based on what it determines to be the best use for that property.”

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.