After 21 yrs, QC to hike land values

Time to update property prices from 1995 rates —LYN RILLON

The Quezon City government will have to adjust its outdated property values—last revised in 1995—and raise corresponding taxes in compliance with a recent directive from the Commission on Audit (COA).

City assessor Rodolfo Ordanes, who on Friday confirmed receipt of COA’s Oct. 7 letter to Mayor Herbert Bautista, said the city had “no choice” but to implement the long-delayed adjustment of the property assessment and classification system.

“COA is requiring us to update our fair market value,” Ordanes said in a statement. “Since 1995, we have not increased our fair market value. Our current value is still in the 1995 rate.”

Citing an example of the directive’s effects, Ordanes said the proposed fair market value of prime lots along Edsa would be P30,000 per square meter, six times more expensive than the current valuation of about P5,000.

This is still cheaper compared to other cities that have updated their land values over the last few years. Edsa lots are valued from P40,000 to  P55,600 per square meter in Pasay and Caloocan, and up to P80,000 in Makati.

Ordanes noted that COA invoked Section 219 of the Local Government Code requiring the city assessor to implement a general revision of tax rates every three years.

“Actually, we can be charged in the Office of the Ombudsman for not following what the law mandated,” he said.

In the Oct. 7 letter to Bautista, state auditor Rose de la Cruz noted that the city’s failure to update property values meant that, for the purpose of taxation, these values “have not been attuned to the changing times.”