Corangamite and Moyne shires have joined Warrnambool City in condemning the plan that could introduce annual property revaluations from 2019.

Moyne and Warrnambool would have to fork out an additional $100,000 a year if the plan went ahead, while Corangamite expects it would cost an extra $50,000. Revaluations currently take place every two years.

Corangamite Shire chief executive officer Andrew Mason described the move as “concerning”.

“That would mean that, potentially, council has to pay double what we already pay to do valuations and it provides absolutely no additional benefits, particularly financial, for local government,” he said.

Moyne Shire’s director of community and corporate support Kevin Leddin said councils were disappointed there was no consultation by the state government.

“Rural councils have been arguing that it should be every four years,” Mr Leddin said.

He said rural shires had less fluctuation in land values, making more regular valuations an unnecessary cost impost on regional councils. 

State opposition planning spokesperson David Davis said the government’s push for yearly valuations would “force councils to cut local services to pay the extra costs” while netting the government “an extra $200 million in land tax”.

Corangamite councillor Bev McArthur moved a motion that the council not only write to the Local Government Minister and the Treasurer, but also to the Opposition Leader, Shadow Local Government Minister and local MPs calling for four-yearly revaluations in rural councils.

“Having to re-value properties on an annual basis is an enormous cost to our bottom line and therefore to our rateypayers, with no compensation from the state government,” she said.

Cr Simon Illingworth said annual valuations did not make sense in rural areas.

“It’s fairly clear the reason why you’d want annual valuations in Melbourne, because the prices are going up 10-15-plus per cent and that realistically just means more money for government. We don’t have massive rises in our property values,” he said.

“The annual valuation idea is going to cost us a lot and we have very little to gain from it.”

Cr Ruth Gstrein said the change to annual valuations was a “thought bubble” that had occurred with no consultation with local government.

“For us, it’s a major impost on our staff, an extra $50,000 a year, but there’s no income coming from that,” she said.

“For our ratepayers, there’s no surety what your rates are going to be. At least at the moment with revaluations every second year you know how much your rates will go up the following year, now you don’t know.”