Auckland Council is reviewing if Babcock, a commercial engineering facility at 41 Queens Parade, Stanley Point, should be paying more in rates. This land is owned by the Crown and part of the naval base.
Under the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, some land is exempt from paying rates such as universities, schools, public hospitals and churches. Defence land is also subject to special rating treatment.
The law allows the council to collect rates from land which is otherwise exempt from rates where commercial activities are taking place. The part of the land on which commercial activities are operating is rated as a business.
The council is currently charging business rates for many commercial operations like this, for example a café on a university campus would pay rates.
The council regularly reviews the information it holds on exempt properties to ensure they are rated appropriately.
“While certain types of Crown-owned land are exempt from rates, commercial works that are located on Crown-owned land are required to pay rates in the normal way,” says John Bishop, General Manager of Treasury and Transaction Services at Auckland Council.
“We can confirm that we are looking into a business located on Crown land at Stanley Point, to determine whether it is liable to pay additional rates. We will not be commenting further until we have completed our investigation.”
This financial year, council will collect $1.57 billion in rates.
