This report has been updated. Please see “Rates Rise $140 A Year, Not $370”
July 10, 2024
An average resident in Kingaroy will most likely be paying about an extra $7 a week in rates and charges following the adoption of Council’s 2024-24 Budget.
The Budget was handed down on Wednesday morning, and passed unanimously by all councillors.
While rates are rising 2 per cent, water access charges, the waste management levy, and wheelie bin and recycling bin collection charges will rise by 6 per cent, and sewerage access charges will rise 3 per cent.
The net effect will see an average Kingaroy home’s total rates bill rise by almost $370 per annum, or about $7 per week, and slightly less in the region’s other towns.
To help mitigate the effect of the increase, Council will retain its 10 per cent discount for prompt payment and $200 per year discount for pensioners.
Council will also continue its three-year averaging on properties which received sharp increases in the 2022 round of State Government land valuations.
In return, Mayor Kathy Duff has promised to lead a “no frills, back-to-basics Council” with a focus on delivering essential services, despite a $3.59 million operational deficit.
The SBRC’s deficit is not expected to return to surplus until 2028-29.
The is the first time for three years that all councillors have agreed to endorse all parts of the Budget.
General Manager Finance and Corporate Susan Jarvis told the meeting there will be no additional borrowings over the next 12 months.
However, Council is planning to borrow in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years to assist with costs associated with the Gordonbrook Dam Wall upgrade and a new landfill waste area.
Council’s borrowings with the Queensland Treasury Corporation were predicted to be $23.838 million at June 2024.
Total borrowings will be reduced to $20.337 million over the next 12 months through loan repayments, with a large portion of Council’s current loans due to be paid out by 2030-31.
- Download: Councillors’ Views – SBRC Handout (6.1Mb PDF)
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Mayor’s 2024-25 Budget Address
Here is the full text of the Mayor’s Budget speech:
Council is pleased to deliver the 2024-25 Financial Year Budget, the first budget for this current term of Council.
Our Council has a focus of delivering the essential and basic infrastructure and services for our diverse region in an increasingly difficult environment of external forces.
It is my humble honour to present my first budget as the new Mayor, (and) I am pleased to have put it together with a great team of Councillors and supportive staff.
We are very much a back to basics Council and have put together a budget that largely revolves around resealing some of our problem sealed roads to reduce potholes.
Our Council is evaluating the hire of extra machinery such as a Flocon unit for sealed road maintenance and extra resources such as rollers on the maintenance grading.
We are developing a longer-term strategy to purchase the machinery needed for the road network.
We are also reviewing items including gravel pits, and areas that we can make savings and reduce expenditure.
I campaigned to try to keep rates affordable and our team have kept the general rate rise to a modest 2 per cent as we still have an operating deficit of approximately $3.59 million to contend with.
The news that our Council would again suffer a loss of funding through the Financial Assistance Grants was not well received.
Our Council will continue, to call for a full and transparent review of the grant methodology so that our community receives its fair share of the Financial Assistance Grant from the State and
Commonwealth Governments into the future.
Our Council recognises that because of the most recent land revaluation (effective date 30/06/2022), some property owners will face significant increases in general rates, as their property
valuation has increased higher than the average.
Council has decided to utilise the averaging tool set out in the Local Government Regulation 2012 to help to minimise the impact of valuation increases for these property owners, for the third year in a row.
Waste, wastewater and water are all separate business units and have various rises due mostly to meeting increased compliance of government regulations.
A summary of these changes is:
- 6 per cent Water Access and Consumption
- 15 per cent Waste Management Levy
- 6 per cent Waste Collection including Recycling
- 3 per cent Sewerage Charges
The requirement to expend significant capital funds to upgrade several landfills, increased compliance with waste disposal, and major water and wastewater upgrades are all driving costs upwards in these areas.
Council will continue to lobby for funding from the State and Federal Government to support these major upgrades.
The community has asked for improved water quality for our region and as a start in this budget Council has provided funding to air scour the water pipes in Kingaroy.
I am pleased that our Council has maintained the 10% discount for rates payment as I see several Councils now removing or reducing this discount and both the Community Rescue and Evacuation Levy and the Rural Fire levy remain unchanged.
We were fortunate again to receive Works for Queensland (W4Q) funding of $8.4 million.
To ensure equity across the region each Councillor put forward projects for their division with a budget of $1.2 million, distributed fairly across all divisions over the next three years.
We do acknowledge and thank the Queensland State Government for this much-needed funding.
I would like to thank the Councillors, CEO Mark (Pitt), the Senior Executive and the whole team for your work in putting together this Budget but most importantly thanks must go to you the people of this beautiful region for putting your faith in this new team to deliver this budget for you.
Thank you and God bless.
– Mayor Kathy Duff
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Mayor’s 2024-25 Budget Meeting
Livestream video of the 2024-25 Budget Meeting
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Footnote: The figures quoted in this article are based on an average 3-bedroom home in Kingaroy on a $70,000 block connected to the town’s water and sewerage systems, which receives a standard weekly wheelie bin collection service and a fortnightly recyclable collection service. Ratepayers who do not receive one (or more) of these services should expect a lower increase.
[UPDATED]
That’s about a 10% increase, around 2.5 times the CPI. It’s quite a political strategy, being the first budget after the election. I’m guessing they are hoping it will be forgotten by the time the next election rolls around.
I think we have been duped with the promise of back to basics.