Rates

Each year Gore District residents make a financial contribution to the Council in the form of rates.

These pay for a variety of services and activities, such as the Gore Aquatic Centre and acclaimed Main Street garden plots. Rates also allow the Council to maintain our extensive infrastructural assets, such as the road you drive on each day to get to work.

2020/21 Your Rates Working For You [PDF, 962 KB]

Rates payment dates

We encourage people to set up their rates payment by direct debit. For those who prefer to pay in instalments, there are four due dates for each instalment.

The due dates for the 2019/20 year are:

28 August 2020
27 November 2020
26 February 2021
28 May 2021

Non-payment of rates

Unfortunately, bills get overlooked sometimes. If you do not pay your rates by the date each instalment is due, there will be a 10% penalty. A further 10% penalty is added to any unpaid rates on 1 July, following the due date. An additional 10% will be incurred every six months thereafter.

You can ask to have the penalty fee waived. Just fill in the form below and email to us at rates@goredc.govt.nz.

Rates penalty waiver request form [PDF, 114 KB]

To avoid paying too little or too much on each instalment you can set up a direct debit. For more information go to Paying your rates online.

Our rating system

Rates are the Council’s main source of revenue and its rating system is capital value-based. This means that the value of your property is used to calculate the percentage you pay for certain activities. It is not used to calculated your total rates.

There are two types of rates - a general rate and a targeted rate. Your rates account is made up of the following:

• Uniform Annual General Charge and other uniform target rates	25%
• Fixed Targeted ward rates	41%
• Valuation-based targeted rates	27%
• Valuation-based general rates	7%

2019/2020 Rates Resolution [PDF, 180 KB]

Merging properties for rating purposes

Merging Properties for Rating Purposes Application Form [PDF, 57 KB]

If you have bought a property in the Gore District that is beside a property you already own, you may be able to merge these properties for rating purposes.

The properties must meet the following criteria:

They must have common ownership
They must be contiguous (or separated only by a road, railway, drain or river)
They must be used jointly as a single unit

Please Note: An application does not take effect until the following financial year. For example, an application to merge two properties made in December will not take effect until 1 July the following year.

Getting a refund from us

Refund Request Application Form [PDF, 90 KB]

If you have overpaid a rates account, a dog registration, a debtors or a water account, you can apply for a refund.

Applying for a rates refund on behalf of a client

Solicitors' Rates Refund Application Form [PDF, 130 KB]

If you have a client that is ratepayer in the Gore District and they have overpaid their rates, you are able to request a refund of the overpaid rates on behalf of your client.

Please contact us by email rates@goredc.govt.nz or phone 03 209 0330 if you require more information.

2019 Rating Valuations

The Gore District rating values are updated every three years and are one of the factors councils use to assess rates. You can check a property's new valuation by checking the Rating Valuation Register [PDF, 3.2 MB]. The new valuations are also available at QV.co.nz.

In setting the new rating value, QV uses a mass-appraisal process where similar and relevant property sales from Gore around the time of the revaluation, except mortgagee sales, are considered.

The mass-appraisal process is supported by some valuation assessments of individual properties every year as a result of building consents, subdivisions, sales inspections, objections and ratepayer requests to update rating values.

A rating valuation should reflect the likely price a property would sell for but does not include chattels, that is movable personal items such as curtains and appliances. It is not designed to be used as a current market valuation, which can be provided to banks for use in raising finance or for other legal purposes. Current market valuations require an individual inspection of a property and full written report by a Registered Valuer.

Property owners have the right to object to their new rating value if they disagree with it. This can be done online at ratingvalues.co.nz or you can download an objection form [PDF, 89 KB].

Property search

To search for rates on your property click on 'Search It' in the Do It Online section.

Remission of Rates policy [PDF, 449 KB]

Environment Southland rates information

Search Properties Database

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