NRS-17973 | Rate and Valuation Book [Municipality of Hillgrove]

Full description

This series consists of records of rates and valuations for the Borough of Hillgrove (1899-1906) Municipality of Hillgrove (1907-1923), created under the Local Government Act 1919 (Act No.41, 1919).

Rates were levies raised by local authorities such as municipalities, shires or county councils to fund their services and operations. The 'rate' refers to the level of charge, commonly set as a ratio against the value of property held within the local authority's jurisdiction; for example, one penny for each pound of property value. An assessment of this value was then required in order to calculate the charge to the ratepayer.

The Borough of Hillgrove appointed valuers in February 1900, soon after incorporation. (1) Valuations were an annual responsibility of the local authority under the Municipalities Act, 1897 (Act No.23, 1897) s.138(i). The Valuation of Land Act, 1916 (Act No.2, 1916) moved this responsibility to the new Office of the Valuer-General; but only applied once the Valuer-General had revalued the area, supplied a valuation list to the local authority, and gazetted the application of the Act. After the Valuer-General had taken on the valuations for an area, local body records were reduced to the calculation and payment of rates. The Valuation of Land Act 1916 was not applied to Hillgrove while it was an independent municipality. (2)

The Local Government Act, 1919 Sch.3 gave temporary provisions for continued local body valuations, to apply until a valuation list was supplied. Valuations could be of unimproved capital value of the land; improved capital value including enhancements such as buildings; or assessed annual value, being 9/10ths of the annual rental value of the improved land. Schedule 3 of the 1919 Act required that the first two be done for all ratable land in a municipality, and the third for all urban areas. Values were to be reassessed at least every three years.

A universal charge by property value for general purposes was called a general rate. Other forms of charge allowed for under the Act were special, local and loan rates. (3) A special rate was also universal, but imposed to fund a specific purpose. A local rate could be levied to pay for works that benefited a particular locality, and was paid only by ratepayers of that locality. A loan rate would service a loan contracted by the Council for public works, and might be applied locally or universally depending on the purpose of the loan. In the period of this series, Hillgrove applied a general rate and a local water rate.

This series is a single volume of combined rates and valuations. The valuations are from 1920-1922, although rates payments are recorded into 1923. The volume is designed for a three-year valuation cycle, and was constructed so that each valuation leaf has three smaller following leaves, one per year, on which to record payments. The narrower page keeps visible the assessment number and owner's name on the valuation sheet. The final pages are signed by the valuer and the mayor for each year of the volume, and have an impress of the municipal seal.

The valuation sheet includes fields for assessment numbers; name and occupation of owner and occupier or ratepaying lessee; the nature of the property (e.g. residential, commercial) and a description of the location and area of the land, by section and lot number; the valuation by year and type; whether the valuation was appealed and any new value resulting. The rating sheets record the calculated charges, payments, arrears and interest. Not all fields were necessarily completed or used as intended.

The valuations are in generally geographical order. Sometimes street names are given, although not addresses. Changes of ownership or abandonment of properties are annotated. The previous assessment number field has instead been used to identify those to whom the water rate applied, with a 'W' stamp.

After amalgamation, Hillgrove became part of C riding of Dumaresq Shire, so rates and valuations after 1923 will be found in NRS17996. There is no cross-reference of assessment number from the Hillgrove book.


Custody History
Hillgrove records passed to Dumaresq Shire on amalgamation in 1924. This series was transferred in 1961 to the University of New England Archives. Earlier rates and valuation records from Hillgrove are not extant. A survey of local government records published by the Royal Australian Historical Society in 1990 reported that all were believed destroyed. (4) Rating records were sometimes destroyed by local authorities as out-of-date accounts. As the Dumaresq Shire rates and valuations have been preserved, the earlier Hillgrove records may not have come into Dumaresq custody.


Endnotes:
1. NSW Government Gazette No.200, 6 March 1900, p.1900.
2. The Valuation of Land Act was applied to Hillgrove as part of Dumaresq in 1969: NSW Government Gazette No.144, 12 December 1969, p.5078.
3. Local Government Act,1919 (Act No.41, 1919) s.117-128.
4. Hughes, Joy N., Local Government...Local History, Royal Australian Historical Society, Sydney 1990, p.28.