NRS-21510 | Valuation and Rate Books [Berry Municipal Council]

This series contains the Valuation and Rate books of the Berry Municipal Council.An Act to Establish Municipalities, 1867 (31 Victoria Act No.12) required local authorities to appoint valuers whose task was regularly to determine the value all rateable property within the Municipality to which they were appointed. (1) Valuers were entitled to enter rateable premises and to ask the necessary questions of the occupants to enable the rate books to be completed. (2) The rate itself was determined by Council. (3) The Act stipulated that rate books should be kept (4) and that these should contain the following information, Valuation Number; Situation; names of occupant, lessee and owner; description of property; annual value; value assessed by Council; value determined on appeal; rate in the £ and any observation. (5) These responsibilities were likewise enacted in the Municipalities Act, 1897 (Act No.23, 1897) (6) Rate books were admissible as evidence in legal proceedings related to the levying or recovery of rates. (7)The Valuation of Land Act, 1916 (Act No.2, 1916) transferred the function of valuation from the municipalities to the Valuer-General's Department. Municipalities became Valuation Districts. (8)These rates books were completed by hand arranged chronologically.Endnotes 1. An Act to Establish Municipalities, 1867 s.172.2. Ibid. s.173-174.3. Ibid. s.164.4. Ibid. s. 174. 5. Ibid. Schedule L.6. Municipalities Act, 1897 s.138-147, and Schedule 18. 7. An Act to Establish Municipalities, 1867 s.178 and Municipalities Act, 1897 s.156. 8. Valuation of Land Act, 1916 s.12.