Vol. 447 No. 11
75 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance if he will make a statement on the outcome of the powers given to the Commissioner of Valuation in regard to reviewing rateable valuation over the past few years which have resulted in several thousand revisions and have cost Dublin Corporation over £5 million per year; if this scale of change was anticipated; and if he will consider amendments to prevent the city valuation declining further. [1348/95]
The basis for valuation is the net annual value (NAV) i.e. the rental value of a property. Rental values are a function of market forces and reflect changes in the market. The Valuation Acts envisaged that there would be revaluations at 14 year intervals to maintain uniformity and equity, and to ensure that the valuation base would conform with market realities. However, such regular revaluations were not carried out, and the last revaluation of Dublin city was completed in 1915. Over time the effects of inflation, the property dynamics of a developing city and changing rental values made it impossible to apply the NAV as required by the Acts. Consequently, the rateable valuation base lost its relationship with market rental values. However, the 1986 Valuation Act reaffirmed the NAV basis for assessing rateable valuations. This return to rental values would clearly have the effect of a significant redistribution of the rateable valuation base within and between different property categories. Broadly speaking this redistribution reflected the relative decline in office rentals in the city area, and the growth and development of the retail sector in the suburbs largely outside the city.
Furthermore, factors other than the valuation process, can have an effect on the effective valuation base. These include the development and decline of parts of the city, outflows of development to adjoining areas in Dublin County, and the rates remission incentive in the urban renewal areas. The latter has been very successful in Dublin City, and most commercial developments in the city have concentrated in these areas. However, such developments are exempt from paying rates for ten years.
The valuation base is inherently affected by the dynamics of the property market and the other factors referred to. This basic principle applies to all local authorities, and not just to Dublin Corporation.
