{"id":61812,"date":"2014-03-28T00:05:49","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T14:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=61812"},"modified":"2020-12-04T14:35:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T04:35:38","slug":"council-rates-to-rise-in-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/03\/28\/council-rates-to-rise-in-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Rates To Rise In Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann, CEO Ken McLoughlin and deputy mayor Keith Campbell crunch figures this week (Photo: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 28, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Burnett Regional Council has confirmed that rates will rise in the 2014-15 Budget but councillors are working to keep the increase to less than the 5 per cent which was tipped last year.<\/p>\n

The Mayor and councillors have been meeting with council staff recently to draft the Budget and identify any possible savings.<\/p>\n

“This is a hard task as again this year we have absorbed unexpected cuts to funding from the Federal and State governments,” Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said.<\/p>\n

“In the Budget papers of last year we forecast an increase in general rates of \u2018above 5 per cent\u2019 knowing that our finances were stretched.<\/p>\n

“Since that time two major shocks have occurred … the reduction in grant money and the effects of drought on our farmers and businesses.”<\/p>\n

The Mayor said since the merger in 2008, Council has been working progressively every year to reduce its running costs.<\/p>\n

It now has an operating budget lower than it was six years ago, despite inflation.<\/p>\n

“This, in itself, is a remarkable achievement and one that I believe is unique in medium-sized rural and regional Queensland Councils.<\/p>\n

“This has been achieved through good management of resources, reductions in staff, and improving business processes.<\/p>\n

“My Council\u2019s aim is get the general rate increase below the forecast 5 per cent, hence we are working hard to identify which services can be cut or reduced knowing full well that roads are our major priority.”<\/p>\n

Finance Portfolio Spokesperson Cr Keith Campbell said he was optimistic a general rate increase would be below 5 per cent but said Council also needed to borrow money for bridges, water, and wastewater.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Currently our water prices are well below those recommended by an external State Government-funded project. We are aware of this but will address this in a planned way over several years to avoid what is called price shock,” Cr Campbell said.<\/p>\n

“Since January we have done a dozen different financial models with the aim of minimising the impact of any rate increase.<\/p>\n

“We are committed to balancing our Budget and do not want to fall into a Budget position where we are reported to Parliament and placed on watch by the Auditor-General for being financially unsustainable.<\/p>\n

“Some 16 councils were recently placed on watch and reported to Parliament for being in a poor financial position.”<\/p>\n

The South Burnett Regional Council will bring down its Budget in June.<\/p>\n

“The bottom line is our Budget must balance,” Mayor Kratzmann said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Burnett Regional Council has confirmed that rates will rise in the 2014-15 Budget but councillors are working to keep the rise to less than the 5 per cent which was tipped last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":61813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,3],"tags":[1131],"yoast_head":"\nCouncil Rates To Rise In Budget - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/03\/28\/council-rates-to-rise-in-budget\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Council Rates To Rise In Budget - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Burnett Regional Council has confirmed that rates will rise in the 2014-15 Budget but councillors are working to keep the rise to less than the 5 per cent which was tipped last year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/03\/28\/council-rates-to-rise-in-budget\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-27T14:05:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-04T04:35:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/20140327council.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/03\/28\/council-rates-to-rise-in-budget\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/03\/28\/council-rates-to-rise-in-budget\/\",\"name\":\"Council Rates To Rise In Budget - 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