Tablelands Regional Council recently flagged rate notice changes, most notably amongst rural landowners, which were due to hit local inboxes and mailboxes later this month.
Mayor Rod Marti said new land valuations were issued by the Department of Resources in 2021-22, and whilst valuations varied across the region, many valuations had increased significantly.
"Primary production (category F) and large grazing properties (category G) were most affected," he said.
"On average, category F land values increased by 43 percent or $234K and category G by 94 percent or $1.3 million."
Primary production was defined as all rateable land, which was predominately used for primary production purposes as defined by the Department of Resources as rural or agricultural.
Large grazing properties were defined as all rateable land that were used for the primary purpose of raising livestock and exceeded 5000 hectares.
Horticultural operator Lawrence Masasso of Rocky Creek Orchards located in the Tablelands region said his rates had continually increased over the last decade.
"My own rates went up 53 percent in eight years since 2013 and at the same time the CPI (consumer price index) was 19.7 percent," he said.
"We were already a long way above CPI and now we're about to get another 20 percent increase with the CPI probably going to be about four or five percent this year.
"It's not an endless well.
"These guys have got to get to the point where they stop slapping the graziers and farmers because we're just a small group that they think have got capacity to pay and won't bite back."
The family grew avocados, mangoes and potatoes amongst other crops and Mr Masasso said the rate increases were another cost to their operation.
"We've had wages go up by five percent and we're on fuel levies for transport right now for about 30 percent," he said.
"All our input costs have gone up and so it's just another cost we have to bear and it's the worst possible time.
"As with the avocados we've seen getting dumped at the Atherton dump this year, and even with the cattle guys, yes it has been really, really good, but with FMD they're starting to say that cattle prices are coming back.
"There's no one that is in a particularly great position right now."
Mayor Marti said the council was required by the Local Government Act to use land valuations in the calculation of rates.
"Faced with the significant valuation increases last year, we did two things for category F and G properties," he said.
"First, we adopted a land-value averaging strategy to run over two years and, second, we decreased the cents in the dollar used in the calculation for those categories.
"This is the final year of land-value averaging, which means the new land valuations are fully applied to the rating calculation."
The average increase in general rates for category F was $1020 per annum, whilst the average increase for category G was $3530 per annum, Mr Marti said.
"While the valuation averaging tool was intended to spread the impact of rate increases over two years, much of the rating impact has fallen into the second year," he said.
Mr Masasso said increased land valuations weren't always practical for landowners.
"The other argument is no other farmer or grazier makes any money out of their farm valuation going up," he said.
"Farmers aren't in the business of selling farms. Farmers buy farms occasionally and hang onto them for generations generally.
"An increase in valuation is nice to see, it's like when your own house you live in goes up in value, it's nice, but you've still got to live there, so that means nothing to you really.
"We've had some good times no doubt and that did encourage buying, but again like every area the amount of properties that get sold every year is an absolute fraction of the properties that are out there.
"If one guy buys his next door neighbour for a huge amount of money, it just revalues everyone's properties, and doesn't necessarily mean that those properties have that same value."
AgForce CEO Michael Guerin said the peak body was aware of the land valuation hikes.
"AgForce has worked tirelessly to help members understand state government unimproved land valuations and strongly supports them in objecting to excessive valuations that lead to inflated rates and rent bills," he said.
"It is therefore extremely disheartening to see producers hit with huge increases - as much as 300 percent in Croydon and 350 percent in Boulia.
"We know that producers are very upset about it and we are preparing to assist them with further objections through the mediation process."
Mayor Marti said the council was undertaking a service review to understand the cost of service delivery and better inform how their operations and expenditure could be more efficient.
"We are also looking closely at how equitably rates revenue is redeemed across the various rating categories," he said.
"In this respect, our residential rating categories are arguably over-burdened when compared against the collective land value of the residential category."
Zoe Thomas
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
