By Di Stanley, Emerald Today
The Central HIghlands council is looking to raise urban, commercial and rural rates around three per cent, but water charges will increase more than the current inflation rate of seven per cent in the upcoming 2023-24 budget.
With the council signalling there was ‘at least’ two more development workshops before the budget will be handed down on 28 June, the Central Highlands Ratepayers Association has vowed to closely watch proceedings.
The contentious rural rate capping of 30 per cent, which caused so much angst among landowners in the 2022-23 financial year, is proposed to drop to 10 per cent in the 2023-24 budget.
“You only put a cap in place when there is going to be a significant rise in a section of our rating system,” CHRA president Kevin Pickersgill said.
“Why are they capping a three per cent increase? Are we paying 0.3 per cent for the next 10 years?
“It would appear to me that there is a lot of confusion within council as to how the rating formula and capping works.
“To fix rate increases to the rise in unimproved values is setting a dangerous precedent and will eventually cripple the rural sector.”
Mr Pickersgill urged the council to focus on income received from rural commodities when evaluating rate increases.
“It would appear we are moving back to a El Nino weather cycle, meaning dry years and coupled to this, falling commodity prices,” he said.
“In the last five months, cattle prices have dropped dramatically 40-50 per cent. Does this mean they’re going to factor this into their rural rates formula and give us a 50 per cent reduction?
“The CHRA feels that the council needs to reset their rural rates back to where they were before the rot set in (in the 2022-23 budget).”
At a CHRC budget development workshop on 10 May, discussions focused on an appropriate ‘cap’ to limit general rate increases for those rural properties that were subject to large property valuation increases as part of the last Department of Resources region-wide valuation program.
“Although no firm decision has been made, it is likely that general rate increases for residential, commercial and rural properties will be around three per cent,“ Chief Executive Officer Sharon Houlihan said.
“The current budget had forecast a cap of 30 per cent for the next financial year, however, based on councillors’ deliberations this will be significantly reduced and is expected to be no more than 10 per cent.”
Increases for next year’s waste and sewerage charges are expected to come in under the current reported CPI inflation of seven per cent.
“Due to the ongoing cost pressures of water supply service, water access and consumption charges will increase next year in line with council’s long-term financial plan, which will be higher than the current CPI inflation rate,” Mayor Kerry Hayes said.
“Council continually works to ensure that the provision of secure water service delivery is maintained across the region.
“In managing the region’s critical water services, council also has an obligation to comply with local government legislation in relation to the National Competition Policy – this guides our annual price increases by ensuring we raise sufficient revenue to limit the reliance on general rates.”
Also at the 10 May general meeting of council, a funding contribution of $1,993,317 was endorsed to Central Highlands Development Corporation (CHDC) to partially fund its 2023-24 budget.
The contribution forms part of council’s 2023-24 budget.