General News
25 April, 2024
Rates and waste charges set to rise under constrained council budget
Council’s revenue sources for the coming year are rates (41 percent of total income), capital grants (29 percent), operating grants (23 percent), user and statutory fees (six percent) and other (two percent). Expenses on the other hand include...
The Central Goldfields Shire Council’s draft budget is now open for feedback, with a 2.75 percent rate increase, 4.4 percent increase to waste charges and almost $14 million capital works program highlighting the draft.
Renewal works at the Maryborough Town Hall, completion of the Deledio Reserve netball courts and demolition of the old skate and scooter park are among the big note items of the council’s 2024/25 budget, but what does this mean for ratepayers and the fees they’re charged?
At this week’s ordinary council meeting, councillors made it abundantly clear that the coming financial year’s budget is “tight” — the result of years of rate capping amidst growing expenses.
According to the draft budget document, rates form council’s single largest revenue stream and while this funds projects and services locally, rate increases have been progressively hamstrung under the State Government’s Fair Go Rates System since 2015.
While theoretically this means less rate increases for local residents, it could also mean cut backs in services, such as council funded kindergartens, as the organisation’s costs continue to rise.
Council’s revenue sources for the coming year are rates (41 percent of total income), capital grants (29 percent), operating grants (23 percent), user and statutory fees (six percent) and other (two percent).
Expenses on the other hand include capital works (41 percent) and materials and services (23 percent), with employee costs including wages amounting to over a third of total expenditure (34 percent).
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, councillor Gerard Murphy said with expenses rising and income limited, council “can’t do everything”.
“What the public don’t see is it’s very tight and very hard — we do as much as we can, we get grants for roads and other things and we have to put money in for other projects and services,” he said.
“At the end of the day you can’t do everything, we hear often that ‘council should do this’ or ‘why can’t council fund that’ and I think the education of the public is important on these kinds of issues.
“We do what we can do for the community with a holistic approach, but there’s just not enough to go around, especially with rate capping.
“We have to work really hard to make sure good things are happening in the shire with this budget.”
While the budget includes a rate increase of 2.75 percent, it also includes a 4.4 percent increase in waste charges for standard waste and varying increases for non-standard waste charges.
According to council’s draft budget, this is to ensure the full cost of council’s whole waste management function continues to be funded by waste charges.
Since rate capping was introduced in 2015, the Central Goldfields Shire Council has not applied for a rate cap variation to allow greater increases to rates and a stronger income source, however Cr Geoff Lovett said this may not be far away.
“As my fellow councillors have already pointed out, our income is tightening and our expenditure is growing,” he said.
“It’s my considered opinion that in the very near future, council will need to seriously consider a submission to the State Government for a rate cap variation because if we don’t get one, our services will need to be cut back and nobody wants to see that happen.”
Off the back of the 2024/25 budget however are a number of positives for the community, with services like libraries, playgrounds, childcare, kindergarten, parks and gardens to continue.
Council’s capital works budget of $13.7 million will also see the octagonal pool restored at the Maryborough Outdoor Pool, completion of dam stabilisation works at the Goldfields Reservoir, the rollout of a TAC Road Safety Program including speed reductions, roundabouts and splitter islands locally and works to explore opportunities for increased housing.
Some $3.85 million will also be spent upgrading and renewing roads in the Central Goldfields Shire.
Also at this week’s meeting, council endorsed its draft Financial Sustainability Strategy, the first of its kind, developed to ensure the organisation’s strong financial future.
Mayor Liesbeth Long said the plan will help guide long-term financial sustainability.
“The last couple of years there has been a large difference between actual CPI and the rate cap, this has begun to bite and so in response we have developed the draft Financial Sustainability Strategy,” she said.
“While we are still in a steady financial situation, there are signs of financial stress that we need to address early to ensure long-term financial sustainability.
“We encourage our community to review the draft Budget and Financial Sustainability Strategy and to provide us with feedback.”
Both documents are available to view on council’s website at www.engage.cgoldshire.vic.gov.au/budget2024 with feedback invited until 5 pm Friday, May 24, 2024.
Residents are also able to attend a drop-in community information session on Thursday, May 9 at the Maryborough Community Hub. The session will run from 4 until 7 pm, with residents able to attend throughout the session.