Victoria's rural and regional councils are seeking to cushion primary producers from massive land valuation increases, by further driving down rate differentials.
Ararat Rural City Council has seen farmland values jump by more than 50 per cent while in the Northern Grampians Shire it was 48pc and Horsham Rural City Council saw a rise of 41pc.
In East Gippsland it was nearly 37pc.
Differential rating allows councils to discount the rate paid by each land use sector, with some coming in over the 100pc general rate and others below it.
But while increased valuations have allowed some councils to drop the farm rate in the dollar, that had only occurred because of the revaluation.
Northern Grampians mayor Tony Driscoll said he preferred not to focus on the differential.
"If land was hypothetically worth $3500-4000 an acre last year and now it is worth $5,500 or $6000 you can soon wind your rate in the dollar back," Cr Driscoll said.
"Don't get too hung up on the rate in the dollar, because you are starting from a base which is 50 per cent higher than it was last year.
"I am not overplaying the differential, because it is about being fair and equitable to everyone,"
He said the council was trying to get to the point where agriculture paid about 32-33pc of the shire's rate burden; currently it was around 36pc.
"That's really painful for the sector," he said.
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Horsham Rural City Council has proposed decreasing the farm rate differential from 59 per cent to 50 per cent, following a 41.5 per cent increase in farm values across the municipality.
Farm values increased by 41.5pc this year, compared with 27.42pc last year but the residential sector has also seen a strong increase of 24.5pc.
Mayor Robyn Guilline said rates were a property tax.
"It's like income tax, the more you earn, the more tax you pay," Cr Guilline said.
"The value of what those 2191 farmers own is almost the same as the 9532 residential properties in the shire.
"Next year the value of farmland will overtake the value of all the residential properties combined."
Cr Guilline said under the act councils had an obligation to consider the interests of every single person in the municipality, not just one sector.
"The only way we could make it fairer, for everyone, was to lower the differential.
"That effectively means farmers are paying rates on half their property when residential are paying rates on the full value of their property - so "fair" depends on the seat you are sitting in," she said.
Corangamite saw farmland values jump 46pc, from $3,544,110 to $5,177, 082, with the shire setting the differential of 88pc of the general rate.
In Mansfield, the shire dropped its farmland rate by 20.3pc, setting a differential for 67pc of the general rate.
The value of farmland has increased by $285,000, or 26pc, from $1,095,030 to $1,380,192.
East Gippsland mayor Cr Mark Reeves said the council was proposing a small increase in the farmland differential.
"We try to strike a rate, which is equitable across everybody who is facing the same economic challenges," Cr Reeves said.
"We are a fairly compromised residential community, with a weekly average household income of $600-700."
He said during the drought, the council dropped the differential from 90 to 80pc for farming properties.
It was now proposed to increase the differential on farmland to 85pc of the general rate.
"At the same time, the business sector of our community are paying 65pc more in rates," he said.
The council proposed to move the commercial differential from 65pc to 55pc.
"We have no control over farm values, but we know every rural property has increased in value - it's the relative difference in value increase that will be the issue, not the absolute increase" he said.
"We understand the average farm property is facing a 35pc increase in value but we know the highest value properties are the small, 40 hectare properties.
"They have had a disproportionate increase, because of tree changers - they have doubled in price so that is pushing average prices up."
He said council appreciated everyone was facing economic headwinds,
"But the people who have the challenges are not benefitting from the amazing commodity prices - businesses can't just jack up their prices 100pc," he said.
"The coffee shops, the restaurants, the hotels, caravan parks, the hotels, the pubs, have all been hit really hard."
* Have you been hit by rate shock? Let us know.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
