Cairns Division 9 councillor Brett Olds not in favour of council’s proposed new rating category

Pressure is mounting against Cairns council to drop its new rating category for investment properties, and at least one councillor has conceded the idea should be scrapped.

Cairns Regional Council’s proposal to put non-principal places of residence in their own, higher rating category could join the bed tax in the policy wastebasket if public resistance snowballs.

A letter addressed to likely owners of investment properties in Cairns, informing them of the intended new rates, has been met with a firestorm of fury from property owners and realtors who petitioned for the “revenue-raising scheme” to be immediately extinguished.

Division 9 councillor Brett Olds was the first voice within council to come out against the idea, saying it wasn’t an equitable proposal.

“I’ve never seen a more poorly written letter by any council. None of us councillors saw it (before it was sent) … I’d be pissed if I received a letter like that,” Cr Olds said.

“I’m not in favour of this thing anyway … I don’t think it’s fair.

Cairns Division 9 councillor Brett Olds is not in favour of the council’s proposed new rating category for non-principal places of residence. Picture: Romy Bullerjahn

“Council is there to listen to the community … I think I’ve heard enough. I think retracting it is the right thing to do. That’s 100 per cent possible.

“That would show people we put it out there, listened to them and acted in their interests.”

Cr Olds agreed a residential property would not cost any more money for council to service whether it was income-generating or not, and said a more equitable way of meeting the rising costs of running council would be to raise all residential rates equally to meet future increases in CPI.

“Our rate rises have been below CPI for 10 years. That’s unsustainable,” he said.

“The simplest and easiest way of meeting our costs, which are increasing, is to raise rates fairly and transparently.

“One part that frustrates me is the state government tells us to rate more. They’ve been saying to us for years, ‘you guys have the ability to get more out of your citizens’. But rates could be lower if the state government provided appropriate investment in Cairns.

Smithfield resident and investment property owner John McIntyre says this move by council is the “thin edge of the wedge”.

“We should be judged as a city with a population of more than 200,000 when you include our massive tourism influx. But we’ve had $1.2b less investment than Townsville, a city about the same population as ours, over the past decade.”

Smithfield man John McIntyre, who’s owned an investment property in Whitfield for 15 years, said council’s move was just the “thin edge of the wedge”.

“Once it’s in, who knows what's coming after that. It might be a cup of coffee a week, but they could increase that rate anytime,” Mr McIntyre said.

“It’s discriminatory. Ninety per cent of investment properties in Cairns are owned by mum and dad investors. This is a cash grab.”

Cr Olds agreed with Mr McIntyre’s sentiment.

“Trust in government is so low right now; it’s possibly the lowest it’s ever been. I don’t blame people thinking that,” he said.

“We’ll see at the vote next year who’s been listening to the community.”

Council Regional Council first flagged the introduction of the new rating category at its budget meeting in June 2022, and said the move must be endorsed by councillors before being implemented next year.

“The advanced notice was to provide property owners information ahead of the possible changes to rating categories and to seek return information on the ppr/non-ppr (primary place of residence/non-primary place of residence) status of their respective properties,” a council spokesperson said.

“Its introduction remains the subject of consideration and endorsement by the council as part of the 2023/24 budget process.”

Originally published as Cairns Division 9 councillor Brett Olds not in favour of council’s proposed new rating category