Damion Mitchell, News Coordinator
The National Land Agency (NLA) is unable to state when it will clear the existing backlog of applications filed by property owners protesting against the value placed on their land.
Last week, The Gleaner reported that there were about 30,000 applications which were yet to be processed. But Commissioner of Land Valuations Pearl Piccott claimed that there were only 1,703 outstanding applications.
According to Mrs. Piccott, of the 700,000 parcels of land re-evaluated in 2002, the NLA received 6,520 objections and has since processed more than 4,800, but she said that it was hoped that the backlog may be addressed by year-end.
"We are sorry that we have this backlog," she said. "But with regard to clearing the objections, I really cannot say."
She also confirmed that there is a serious staff shortage at the NLA and admitted that the lack of adequate transportation for field officers has contributed to the backlog.
Of the 10 vehicles assigned to the NLA's Valuations Division, seven are currently parked at its Ardenne Road offices awaiting repairs. However, Mrs. Piccott was unable to indicate when they would be repaired.
She was also unable to say when the agency would be able correct the current staff shortage, noting that the NLA is considering a restructuring of its operations which would address staff concerns. But the land valuations commissioner could not say when the process would be completed.
Remaining cases
In a separate interview with JIS News, Mrs. Piccott indicated that the inspections for the remaining cases "will be done utilising vehicles owned by travelling officers, and agency vehicles from all divisions of the agency".
She said that "the total number of properties for which objection cases are outstanding at this time represents 0.2 per cent, that is one-fifth of one per cent of the total 700,000 parcels on the Valuation Roll", with six parishes having less than 10 cases outstanding. These are St. Thomas, Portland, St. Mary, St. Ann, Trelawny and Clarendon.
"The deadline for accepting notices of objections was in 2003, and as such, we are working with a reducing balance. No new cases are being added to the figure, except where new parcels of land have been created as a result of a sub-division," said Mrs. Piccott.
Persons are able to make an objection to a notice of valuation upon the receipt of same, if they are dissatisfied with it for reasons relating to ownership, value or parcellation.
"In instances where the grounds of objection (related) to value, ownership or parcellation, that is, whether parcels which should have been valued as one, were valued separately or vice versa, the time required to determine the matter may be outside of the control of the agency," Mrs. Piccott explained, adding that some parcels may also be inaccessible due to terrain or road conditions.
In the meantime, she is insisting that that under the law, property owners are still liable to pay their property taxes even while their valuation objections are being processed.
