Toowoomba Regional Council is immediately pausing all debt recovery for outstanding rates and charges due to the COVID-19 crisis.
CEO Brian Pidgeon said the move was an economic relief measure as part of a coronavirus response.
Council will:
- Pause debt recovery for all outstanding rates and charges through to June 30, 2020. Council continues to offer payment arrangements and encourages contact if these need to be varied
- Refund any fees or charges for forward bookings of Council facilities where events have been cancelled
- Only seek quotations from local businesses when procuring works and services up to the value of $200,000
- Amend payment terms for local suppliers to be reduced from Council’s normal term of 30 days to 14 days, commencing April 1, 2020
“Our current caretaker provisions relating to elections means that a raft of further initiatives should only be considered following the swearing-in of newly elected councillors,” Mr Pidgeon said.
“Our Caretaker Period Protocol precludes the current Council making decisions during the caretaker period that bind the incoming Council, particularly where there may be large financial commitments.
“I’m sure the incoming Council will have a strong opinion on the extent of local economic relief it should be providing to our community. Council’s support initiatives will need to complement Federal and State Government economic relief packages which are still evolving.
“There will be a suite of additional initiatives presented to the incoming Council to consider in conjunction with their ideas and new initiatives.
“We will keep our community and businesses informed as Council rolls out further relief initiatives over the coming months.”
