April 12, 2021
South Burnett Regional Council is weighing up increasing some basic sewerage charges in next year’s Budget.
The price rise would affect hospitals, schools, the owners of flats and units, and all commercial premises.
The proposal is part of an effort to claw back more of the $5.5 million annual cost of running the region’s sewerage network.
In a letter sent recently to potentially affected ratepayers, Council said it was considering raising charges for second pedestals (ie. toilets) to the same rate as first pedestals for schools, hospitals and flats.
As well, owners of commercial properties would also face an increased cost for second pedestals. At the moment, they pay 28 per cent of the first pedestal charge for extra pedestals.
The letter does not state what percentage Council is considering lifting this to, but points out that many other councils – including Southern Downs and Western Downs – charge the full first pedestal rate for second pedestals in commercial properties.
At present, commercial ratepayers connected to the main sewerage system pay $739 a year for their first pedestal and $207 per year for each additional toilet.
Council said if the new scheme was introduced, the extra charges would be phased in over two or three years.
The increase would not affect the owners of private residences, who are not subject to second pedestal charges regardless of how many toilets they have on their property.
Council is now calling for feedback to help inform this year’s Budget discussions.
Feedback can be emailed to Council, posted to PO Box 336, Kingaroy 4610 or given by phone on (07) 4189-9100.
Looks like a crap load of money the council are chasing, pity they build a shit of a waste treatment system that doesn’t work properly, as was sold to Kingaroy residents. So now the SBRC will hit ratepayers, investors and developers hard with extra rates. This will be a massive red flag against further development in the SBRC area. I was in early stage of a new development of approx 24 units on one of my blocks in Kingaroy, but will await this outcome before considering investing here again.
Actually what I would like to know is why the Residential Land – Kingaroy is levied at 2.40000000 cents in the dollar of unimproved value while the Residential Land – Murgon is levied at 3.86170000 cents in the dollar of unimproved value and the Residential Land – Wondai is levied at 3.00740000 cents in the dollar of unimproved value so as to arrive at the general rate charged.
This gives Kingaroy a far less general rate than Murgon or Wondai while Kingaroy has far more and greater facilities than Murgon or Wondai so really it should expected that the General Rate should be more in line with the unimproved value. DNR just don’t just dream up the unimproved values and Kingaroy’s higher values must come with a reason!
Murgon has a Cr. representing and Wondai has a Cr. representing and I would like to see two explanations at least pop up here to explain why this is so!! Doesn’t seem fair; does it??
Just find the average price of a house in Murgon, Wondai or Kingaroy, multiply it by the rate in the dollar that applies to each town and you’ll find they all come out to pretty much the same end figure. This is because all ratepayers are expected to contribute equally to the total cost of running our region.
As for services, what’s the difference? All three towns have a Council-run swimming pool, a library, a town hall, a sewerage system, a water supply system, a garbage collection service, Customer Service Centres and Visitor Information Centres. They also have Council-run parks, sporting fields, tips and cemeteries. What other Council-run facilities does Kingaroy have that Murgon and Wondai don’t?