In an act of 1853, the Victorian Parliament established a Central Roads Board to construct and repair Victoria's main roads and bridges. The act also authorised district boards - the forerunners of today's local governments. Owners and occupiers of land in a district could elect their own road boards to manage the minor roads and to press their claims for main roads before the central authority. These district boards had power to raise money by erecting turnpikes on the roads and by levying rates on property. These early rates generally took the form of acreage levies on rural lands and a tax based upon the actual rental or valued annual rental on other properties. The district boards appointed officers to determine these rental values. This was the forerunner for the person now known as the municipal valuer.
This practice marks an essential difference between Victoria and
the other Australian states in the administration of valuations for
rating purposes. As an alternative to the state sponsored central
valuation authority, Victoria has always placed the responsibility
on the employment of valuers with the municipalities. Each local
government area employs its own valuers, either on a staff or contract
basis. In some instances a number of municipalities have joined together
to form a valuation group jointly employing a valuer. The result
of this system has been greater local knowledge for the valuer, greater
valuer access for the ratepayer and availability of other valuation
services for local government.
Initially the discretion of the boards and the council that succeeded
them was wide, both as to the person to be appointed as valuer and
matters relating to the valuation itself. There was no maximum period
for which a valuation could be used, no provision for supplementary
valuations to take account of changes to property and no indication
as to the appropriate date of valuation to be adopted.
Amendments to the law in 1903 and 1921 introduced firstly, provisions
for supplementary valuations and secondly, a requirement for a general
valuation at least every six years. It was finally left to the Valuation
of Land Act ion 1960 to introduce a degree of uniformity of valuation
date to the rating system.
The early 1900's also saw the formation of the Melbourne and Metropolitan
Board of Works, which not only used the municipal valuations but
often employed the Council valuer/rate collector to write up its
rate book. Other water and sewerage authorities also used the municipal
valuation.
Following the popularisation of the ideas of Henry George around
the turn of the century, Victorian rating legislation was amended
in 1920 to permit municipalities the choice of rating on either net
Annual Values or Unimproved Capital Values. (In 1968 the Local Government
Act was further amended to enable rating on a combination of both
valuation bases). Those municipalities rating on the land value base
required the valuer to return both valuations.
This, combined with the more uniform approach to valuation dates
brought about by the Valuation of Land Act forty years later, enabled
the State Government to eventually use municipal valuations for land
tax purposes. By 1931 the background of changing legislative requirements
and the increasing significance of municipal rates saw a number of
practising municipal valuers joining together to form the Victorian
Institute of Municipal Valuers. The Institute commenced with approximately
18 members under the inaugural President Mr F Phillips, then valuer
at Heidelberg Council.
The mood and interest of the fledgling Institute were aptly described
by WS Lang - one of the founding members and valuer to Port Melbourne.
"By about 1930, there appeared to be a spontaneous desire for consultation
among Municipal Valuers and this resulted in the formation of the
Victorian Institute of Municipal Valuers. The members were all conscientiously
concerned for the standard of their work and met regularly to mutual
advantage.
Some of the problems which brought members together were the valuation of hotels,
Licensed Grocers and Special Utility properties. There were also problems regarding
legal decisions as to determining a rental for a lease of one year, as opposed
to one year in a lease for a period of years. Another problem was the matter
of defining Tenant's Chattels and what constituted the Rateable Hereditament.
Also, consideration was given to high-level expenditure of a property, which
could not command an adequate return on the expenditure.
One of the great difficulties which arose during my term, was the valuation of
the then Metropolitan Gas Company's undertaking. This affected every municipality
and was handled by a barrister on an accountancy basis in conference with the
valuers. It was an exceedingly complicated procedure and the calculations were
made to determine the residual value of the gas mains in each municipality. It
followed many legal decisions, many of them English. A Standing Committee to
oversee the problem continuously was mooted by was not proceeded with, as eventually
the whole set-up of the undertaking was changed".
During the 1930's and early 1940's the Victorian Institute of Municipal Valuers
co-existed with the Commonwealth Institute of Valuers which had its inaugural
Victorian meeting in October 1931. A number of valuers were members of both Institutes.
Towards the latter part of 1957 the Commonwealth Institute of Valuers approached
the Municipal Institute with a view to effecting a merger. By September 1958
the Municipal Valuers Institute was wound up and its funds transferred to the
CIV. Twenty-six members transferred to the CIV, twenty-one as fellows and five
as associates. These members formed a committee of their own to deal with matters
of domestic interest under the control of the State Board of the Victorian Division
of the CIV.
By this time the VIMV and its successor, the Municipal Valuers Group, were meeting
of an evening on the first Friday of each month at various venues usually at
one or other Town hall. Meetings at St Kilda Town Hall and Melbourne Town Hall
figure prominently as venues.
In 1958 the group changed its meeting time from Friday evening to Friday afternoon - a
move which proved to be something of a renaissance to membership and interest.
It was also a change which even now contributes to the successful activities
of the group. Eventually the group obtained a permanent meeting place in the
RESI meeting rooms in East Melbourne under sponsorship of the commonwealth Institute
of Valuers. The Municipal Group of Valuers moved temporarily to the Real Estate
Institute of Victoria's meeting rooms in Camberwell in 1988. A further move was
made to the meeting rooms of the Australian Institute of Valuers and Land Economists
in 1992.
Perhaps the most significant change in the municipal valuation area has arisen
out of the Valuation of Land Act in 1960. The major problem to be overcome was
a lack of consistency in valuation dates. Municipalities were required to return
a new valuation at least every six years but there was no provision to prescribe
a date of valuation common to all municipalities. In the metropolitan area the
Board of Works (Melbourne Water) was rating on a series of valuations at various
value levels. Wide disparities in valuation arose between municipalities on widely
diverging valuation dates; even at council level the owners of more recently
valued properties felt disadvantaged by comparison with their neighbours in other
municipalities. The situation still prevailed that a council could appoint any
person as valuer irrespective of experience and qualifications, although it must
be said that most appointments were of people well qualified in the valuation
and real estate area.
The Act required the persons appointed as valuers for municipalities to be registered - registration
being dependent upon academic and experience qualifications. It was not until
1979 that the requirement for all practising valuers to be registered was instituted.
A four-year metropolitan and six year country valuation cycle was introduced
with a degree of control and uniformity over valuation dates.
Also established was the Valuer-General's office with a primary role in co-ordinating
and supervising municipal valuations. An earlier proposal in 1955 to establish
a Valuer-General's department was directed at establishing a central valuation
authority. The proposal reached the stage of a bill before Parliament which eventually
lapsed to be revived in a modified form by a later government. It is interesting
to note that the Municipal Valuers Group of the day was making submissions and
involved in deputations for the need for uniformity of valuations and a raising
of valuation standards - aims consistent with the objects of the group. Some
tribute should also be paid to the work of the late E. R. Inglis, Victoria's
first Valuer-General and later Secretary for Local Government, in the administration
of he Valuer-General's Office and the rapid establishment of good relations with
the many valuers employed by Councils.
Another significant step in opening communications among municipal valuers was
the commencement of publications of the "municipal Valuers Journal" in October,
1969. The journal became necessary with expanding membership and growing responsibilities;
and was instituted to keep all members informed of group activities.
The year 1969 also saw the Land Tax Office, following a 1968 amendment to the
land Tax Act, commence to use municipal valuations for the first time. This change
co-incided with the transfer of valuers with the Land Tax Office to the jurisdiction
of the Valuer-General.
If the 1960's were characterised by the introduction of greater uniformity to
valuations for rating purposes, then the 1970's stand out in two areas:
Firstly, the accentuation of a trend for municipalities to make use of their
valuers in a number of areas beyond the making of valuations for rating purposes.
These areas include rate structure input, legislative advice in valuation and
rating areas, property management, valuation advice on property sales and purchases,
asset and insurance valuations, valuations for public open space contributions,
valuation advice related to town planning matters, and the valuers as a negotiator
in local government property transactions.
The second area is technological - the increasing use of electronic data processing.
Initially in the fields of rate accounting and maintenance of property statistics,
and more recently moving to use as a valuation tool, municipal valuers have been
required to familiarise themselves with computerisation. Already advances have
been made in the production of valuation field cards and the recording and retrieval
of sales and rental data by computerised methods. Trials have been carried our
on the production of valuations by multiple regression analysis, although more
recently the prospect of indexation or equalisation of valuations has become
prominent.
Much of the early research into computer produce valuations was carried our by
the Valuer-General. However, the 1990's have seen a rapid advancement in the
computerisation of the Municipal Valuer's Office. During 1993 municipal valuers
were introduced to several computerised valuation packages and the next general
valuation return will no doubt utilise many of these innovations.
To balance the situation it should be recorded that many municipal valuers, which
recognising the potential for the computer as a valuation tool, have not been
convinced that multiple regression and indexation can produce a technically accurate
and cost efficient rating valuation.
Changes in rating legislation, valuation standards and the valuer's areas of
responsibility have been significant over the past fifty years and can be expected
to continue into the future. The municipal valuer has proved to be adaptable
and, through the Municipal Valuers Group, has not only been able to move with
the times, but also to exert some influence on the direction and nature of change.
Some major legislative changes were implemented in October 1992 with the introduction
of the Local Government Act 1989 and the majority of the Valuation provisions
being transferred from the Local Government Act 1958 to the Valuation of Land
Act.
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