April 24, 2024
South Burnett ratepayers will most likely face a general rate rise of somewhere between zero per cent and 3 per cent in the upcoming Council Budget.
The figures were discussed at the first meeting of the new South Burnett Regional Council, held in Kingaroy on Wednesday.
The meeting heard Council staff had recommended a 3 per cent general rate rise and would prepare Budget projections based upon this.
However, Mayor Kathy Duff asked the staff to also prepare projections based on a zero per cent rise.
A compromise seeking staff to prepare Budget projections based on between zero and 3 per cent was passed unanimously.
Councillors plan to hold Budget planning meetings between now and July to sketch out the parameters of their first Budget.
If a zero per cent rise is adopted, it would not be the first time that the SBRC has followed such a course.
The former Council, led by Mayor Brett Otto, passed the same result in their first year in 2020.
However, at the same meeting, Councillors voted to to increase water access charges, the waste management levy, and wheelie bin and recycling bin collection charges by 6 per cent.
They also voted to increase sewerage access charges by 3 per cent.
These annual rises were “baked in” to the Council’s 10-year plan several years ago to reflect long-term average increases in the cost of providing these essential services.
The Community Rescue Levy ($5 per year) and the State Government’s Emergency Services Management Levy ($142.40 per year) will remain unchanged.
It is incredible that the new leader of the South Burnett would even consider a zero per cent rate increase when all other costs are escalating.
She needs to be explain how Council’s operational costs have gone backwards when everything else has moved forward? How can the Chief Executive Officer and General Managers respond to this type of pressure to continue to deliver the same services but with less money?
Mayor Duff needs to tell the Chief Executive Office, based on her consultation with constituents, what services they don’t want or the services she feels they don’t need, if a zero general rate is to be endorsed.