adminYeukai Karengezeka
Herald Correspondent
Chitungwiza Municipality is working on a new general valuation roll (GVR), used for levying rates, with its contracted valuers inspecting residential and non-residential properties from Tuesday until December 15, an official has said.
The local authority has awarded Grosbrook Real Estate the contract to undertake this statutory exercise.
In a statement, acting town clerk Mr Japson Nemuseso said valuation officers would be visiting properties to prepare the roll.
While the roll often starts with present market values this is not that important. What a valuation roll must do is value all properties on the same standard, so that when the municipality sets the residential and commercial rates all property owners pay a fair proportion of the amount levied.
“The council valuation officers will be inspecting residential and non-residential properties from 22 October to 15 December for the purposes of preparing a general valuation roll for the town,” said the acting town clerk.
“The valuation officers will be positively identified by a letter, IDs with council and the contractor’s logo. We kindly ask for cooperation from all stakeholders,” he said.
According to the Urban Councils Act, it is unlawful to deny valuation officers access to properties and those barring them could even be arrested.
In an interview, Chitungwiza Municipality spokesperson Mr Tafadzwa Kachiko urged property owners to participate as cooperation would determine the correct value of their properties.
“Property owners should take advantage of this exercise because the GVR will determine the property tax for each of their properties. Apart from that, GVR will ensure that the values of properties are accurate and fair, reflecting changes in the market value of properties over time,” he said.
He said the last valuation was done in 2016, and since then, a number of properties were constructed, hence the exercise was overdue. New properties are supposed to be valued at the 2016 values and standards, but a new valuation meant they were all valued together.
Mr Kachiko also reinforced that this exercise is also in response to the Government’s call that the councils should have an updated list of properties.
“The exercise comes when the business community was alleging wrong billing on property tax. So we want to come up with a document that all the property owners will be in agreement with for improved revenue collection,” he said.
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