In setting up our new rates service, we performed a series of integrity checks to ensure that our technology system replicated the rates calculation results the territorial authorities across the region had assessed for the previous (2021/22) rating year.
We found that of the 142,000 rating units, 5144 properties had been either under charged or over charged rates, due to the way the region’s city and district councils applied our rating factors.
These included:
- Incorrect area limits being used for river scheme rates.
- An incorrect river scheme rate being applied.
- Incorrect treatment of rate charges applied to rating apportionments.
The benefits for collecting our rates ourselves include greater control and consistency over the rates collection process for the region.