Nakuru County Government has assured property owners that the on-going public participation on the new Draft Property Valuation roll was not aimed at increasing land rates but at updating the County valuation land register.
Valuation rolls are records of the value of land within a county, which may be used to determine the rates that property owners have to pay to the county government. This is provided in Valuation for Rating Act CAP 266.
Physical Planning Chief Officer Ms Stella Mwaura said the public participation fora which were being conducted across the 11 sub-counties would go on until September 18th this year and were being conducted to educate the public as per the law.
Ms Mwaura emphasized that the Draft Valuation Roll aimed at updating the valuation land register and does not prescribe any rates that land owners would pay to the county government but rather provided values for land parcels within the devolved unit.
The Chief Officer who spoke today during consultative meeting with Sub-Counties and Ward Administrators drawn from Nakuru Town West and East Sub Counties to address concerns arising from the ongoing exercise, said that civic education remained key in all county government programmes so that residents are educated and informed on the government activities as set out in law.
Ms Mwaura told property owners who found that information collected was either incorrect or missing some details have a right to object as per the Nakuru County Valuation and Rating Act of 2023.
She explained that the information captured by Draft Valuation Roll included the plot number of property, name(s) of owners or parties affiliated to the property, area of land in hectares, value of land, location of the property, current use and postal address.
The defunct municipalities used to review the valuation roll after every 10 years, but the county government, in its “Valuation Bill 2017”, reduced the period to five years.
Public Service Management Chief Officer Mr Charles Koech assured property owners in the county that the objections would be reviewed and determined by an Independent Valuation Tribunal.
Mr Koech said a Draft Valuation Roll would be deemed complete after the following steps are complied with: Collection of data from various marketplaces, preliminary visits conducted, public participation conducted to get public input, and compiling of the data that leads to a draft.
“When valuing land, we have to consider the location, that is, its proximity to the nearest town or urban center, social amenities like schools, hospitals and size of the land,” added the Public Service Management Chief Officer.
Koech said that valuation could not be done on forests, power stations, and cemeteries adding that it was only based on the piece of land without including the structures therein while a card shows temporary ownership.
Land rates are a major source of revenue for county governments, which enable them to provide essential services and infrastructure to the residents.
By Esther Mwangi and Felistas Kahungu
