Residents irked by high rates

15/12/2005 The Star

TAMAN Bukit Segar Jaya Phase Two residents are urged to collectively voice their objections to the high assessment rates levied on them.

Pandan MP Datuk Ong Tee Keat said residents should write down their objections collectively, before he could forward their appeals to the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) and state government.

A group of 30 residents voiced their objections at a peaceful demonstration on Thursday.

Resident Eric Au said the annual assessment for his three-storey intermediate unit was RM906, which was far higher than other areas in municipality.

He said for a three-storey intermediate unit in Taman Muda, the annual assessment was RM496.

Au said the Residents Pro-Tem Committee had hired two real estate agents to value their properties and determine if the assessment required by MPAJ was fair.

“The agents told us that the amount was too high,” he said.

He said properties there could not fetch high rentals as the place was not accessible by public transport and there were no shops in the area.

Ampang Jaya Municipal Council public relations officer Norhayati Ahmad, in response, said assessment rates were based on annual value derived from the tone of the list
of 1997.

“The assessment rates levied upon Taman Bukit Segar Jaya Phase Two is reasonable as it is a high-end residential housing estate,” she said.

Norhayati said MPAJ carried out valuations and also called residents to an objections meeting last year before finalising the assessment rate.

She added that after listening to the objections, MPAJ gave a 10% reduction on the annual value.

Taxation and Valuation director Nazmi Osman said MPAJ’s surveyors visited the area and conducted a survey on the rental amount and found that properties could fetch RM1,500 for an intermediate unit.

“We also checked on claims by residents about huge discrepancies of rates between MPAJ and other local authorities.

“We found that the tone of the list for MPAJ was in 1997, Kajang Municipal Council’s tone of the list is from 1985 while City Hall bases its figures on the tone of the list done in 1992,”
Nazmi said.

He said that meant the other local authorities' assessment rates were based on valuations done more than a decade ago.