The first phase of a massive R65-million Nelson Mandela Bay municipality property valuation process that will see every building in the city valued during the next two years kicks off in two weeks' time.

The first phase - data collection ? starts on October 17, aims at ensuring that all properties are valued at market-related prices and that municipal rates are charged accordingly.

The process is likely to see an increase in rates although the municipality says, at this stage it cannot say by how much as properties have to be first categorised according to their usage, ownership and special rating areas.

Municipal manager Graham Richards on Tuesday said the rates of some properties would go up while for others they will go down.

Richards stressed the importance for property owners to allow data collectors, who will be identifiable by their uniform and name tags carrying their photographs, into their properties to gather data.

The data collectors will not work on Sundays and public holidays. Public infrastructure such as national roads, tower lights and others will also be valued. Sectional title properties will be valued individually.

"The purpose of this is to determine a fair valuation of all properties, not only in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, but also nationally, and it is therefore important that property owners allow data collectors carrying the correct accreditation to conduct a proper and accurate data collection of their property," said Richards.

Municipalities countrywide were given three years - 2006 to 2009 - to implement the process, and Nelson Mandela Bay chose 2008.

By next year, each property, whether residential or non-residential will have been given a value and the implementation of the new rates will be the following year, 2008. The value of each property will be published in a draft valuation roll, together with details of the physical location of the property, and the owner.

All property owners will receive a valuation notice and be invited to inspect the roll in case they have objections. There will be an established process for those property owners wanting to lodge objections against valuations placed on their properties.

There are about 250,000 properties in Nelson Mandela Bay and they fall into two main categories - residential and non-residential.

Richards said the valuation of non-residential properties would be slightly different as this would be calculated not only on the willing buyer, willing seller principle, but would also take into account the location of the property, its condition, and factors such as rental, occupancy levels, and building costs.

A call centre which will be open all times during the hours data collectors are working has been established to assist ratepayers with any inquiries. The call centre number is 041-506 7311. Property owners who doubt the authenticity of the data collectors can phone this number to verify.

Richards said in most instances, it is likely that property valuations will increase. ?However, that does not mean that rates will necessarily go up. Properties will be categorised according to their usage and this will then determine the rates.

"There is a limit to which a council can increase its budget, and so a municipality cannot collect more money than it needs. Yes, some rates will go up, whilst some go down," said Richards.

Legislation says a municipality cannot increase its budget by more than 5 per cent from its previous one. The municipality argues that the property valuation would result in fair rates being charged, as previously these were charged according to the cost of erecting the building despite whether the property was at the beachfront or in the townships.

The process will see the rationalisation of rates being charged across Mandela Bay. In the past, the administration of PE, Uitenhage and Despatch had different valuation systems which dated back to 1944.

The Municipal Properties Rates Act was promulgated in 2004, replacing some 131 different ordinances and Acts which were in the past used to valuate properties. After valuation, the properties will be categorised in different classes depending on their use, ownership and special rating areas.

Eastern Province Herald