Gweru works on new valuation roll

GWERU City Council (GCC) is working on a new valuation roll as part of the council’s ongoing initiative to boost revenue collection, city mayor Councillor Martin Chivhoko announced yesterday.

A valuation roll is a document or database that contains the assessed value of all properties within the city. It is a record of the estimated market value of each property, which is used to calculate property rates and other charges.

The valuation roll enables council to come up with an updated list of properties and values to determine rates and other charges that property owners are supposed to pay.

The valuation roll ensures that values of properties are accurate and fair, reflecting changes in the market value of properties over time.

Clr Chivhoko said the development buttresses President Mnangagwa’s “A Call to Action — No Compromise to Service Delivery” blueprint, which demands that local authorities modernise and improve service delivery across the board.

The blueprint directed all 92 local authorities to submit masterplans by the end of June this year as part of efforts to enhance service delivery.

In an interview, Clr Chivhoko said a valuation roll is compiled after every 10 years.

“The local authority is compiling a new valuation roll, an important exercise for the city as this means or will result in some properties constructed during the subsistence of the old valuation roll being billed,” he said.

Clr Chivhoko said for example new buildings that were constructed after the last valuation roll were not paying rates because they were not on the list of properties in the city.

The mayor said while the compiling of the new valuation roll might lead to delays in billing ratepayers, the move is expected to improve revenue collection.

“Our employees might not receive their salaries on time because our billing was delayed by this exercise,” said Clr Chivhoko.

In a notice to residents and ratepayers, acting Town Clerk Mr Livingstone Churu said the new valuation roll is part of the council’s ongoing efforts to improve services.

“What this means for you is that you may not receive your bills at the usual time. However, your consumption and usage of services will continue to accrue. We encourage you to continue paying your bills regularly,” he said.

“To ensure uninterrupted provision of quality services, we urge all stakeholders to continue making payments based on their previous bills or estimated consumption. This will help us maintain our services and infrastructure,” said Mr Churu.