{"id":361692,"date":"2025-06-18T12:29:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T02:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=361692"},"modified":"2025-06-19T18:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T08:07:09","slug":"trc-locks-in-large-rate-rises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2025\/06\/18\/trc-locks-in-large-rate-rises\/","title":{"rendered":"TRC Locks In Large Rate Rises"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Toowoomba Regional Council adopted its 2025-26 Budget on Wednesday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 18, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Large rate rises for 2025-26 were locked in by Toowoomba Regional Council at a Special Meeting held on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Mayor Geoff McDonald said the TRC had adopted a general rate rise of 9.5 per cent for urban residential ratepayers, ie. about $241 a year.<\/p>\n

As well, the water infrastructure charge for an average property would rise by $83.30.<\/p>\n

Mayor McDonald said a “modest” $1.5 million surplus had been forecast.<\/p>\n

“This year\u2019s Budget is about strengthening our foundations with a clear focus on careful financial management, delivering essential services to our growing communities and maintaining existing infrastructure,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have included a 5 per cent pay-on-time discount for all residential ratepayers (including rural residential) and have again offered generous pensioner rebates of $120 per year which supports more than 10,900 pensioner households across our region.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe continued rising cost to Council of delivering business-as-usual services to our region has seen Council working extremely hard to adopt a sustainable Budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made provisions for a $469 million operational spend while $236 million has been allocated to Council\u2019s capital projects.”<\/p>\n

Mayor McDonald said the TRC had budgeted for rising costs in electricity ($14.4 million, up $1.9 million), insurance ($5 million, up $2.1 million) and fuel ($5.7 million).<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like households, these are unavoidable expenses for Council that keep rising well beyond inflation each year,” Mayor McDonald said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to be burdened this year with the Queensland State Government\u2019s Waste Levy Bin Tax … essentially, the State Government is taxing us for the amount of waste which ends up in our landfills.<\/p>\n

“We have budgeted $9 million to cover the full cost of the levy, with a gap of $4.2 million to be funded from general rates and commercial gate fees after the State Government\u2019s annual waste levy payment.”<\/p>\n

Budget highlights include:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • $263 million\u00a0for water and wastewater projects (including $96.5 million for the Cressbrook Dam Safety Improvement Project);<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
    • $160 million\u00a0for roads, drainage, footpaths and bikeways;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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      • $122 million\u00a0for community services, facilities and parks and recreation projects;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          \n
        • $50 million\u00a0for waste services;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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          • $17.5 million for Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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            • $2.7 million to procure and deploy Smart Water Meters on customer connections<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n