Rate increases, housing changes, new parks in Brisbane budget

Brisbane’s ratepayers will pay an extra $1.50 per week on average - or 3.45 per cent in their general rates - under the $4.3 billion, pre-election budget handed down by Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner on Wednesday.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner: “We want to make sure we are not the victims of our own success.”Credit: Brisbane Times

The general rate increase is half Brisbane’s inflation rate. Schrinner said this was a council compromise in response to cost-of-living concerns.

The suburbs set to have the biggest average percentage rise in owner-occupier residential rates next financial year were Tarragindi, Anstead and Kenmore Hills, while Wilston, Chelmer and Red Hill all had an annual increase of less than 1 per cent.

The cost of green bins will also be halved.

“Our strategy of making green waste recycling bins even cheaper is also squarely aimed at helping Brisbane households gear up for a bigger roll-out of our food waste recycling program,” Schrinner said.

Even with lower-than-anticipated rates revenue in future, the council will still embark on a range of new projects, including a battery-powered EV CityCat and transforming quarries into gardens.

Schrinner with a model of an EVCat, which would be smaller than a CityCat but larger than a KittyCat.Credit: Brisbane Times

“Some have already suggested the Mount Coot-tha site could be transformed from a barren quarry into a world-class environmental precinct similar to the Eden Project in Cornwall in the United Kingdom,” Schrinner said.

Key points in Brisbane City Council’s 2023-24 budget

• $141 million over four years to begin converting Victoria Park into the 64-hectare Victoria Park Barrambin parkland.
• A new Short-Stay Accommodation Taskforce to meet with AirBnb and Stayz over 12 months to tackle short-term housing challenges.
• A feasibility study for a battery-powered EV CityCat, carrying 58 passengers.
• $80 million cost of living package, which includes halving green bin fees from $93 to $45. About 138,500 people use green bins in Brisbane.
• Council’s borrowings for 2023-24 - which were proposed to be $600 million - have dropped to $395 million and are proposed to drop to $245 million in 2025-26.
• Net debt per capita reduced by $166 per Brisbane resident.
• A plan to discuss turning empty office space into short-term housing.

A new CityGlider will connect the planned Olympic athletes village at Hamilton Northshore to Woolloongabba, which is being transformed into a new urban CBD for the 2032 Games.

“We want to make sure we are not the victims of our own success,” Schrinner said.

Almost $4 million will be spent transforming the Sherwood Arboretum over the next two years ready for its centenary on World Forestry Day, March 21, 2025. 

Amid citywide housing pressures, the council will push ahead with its crackdown on short-stay accommodation providers - their rates surcharge will increase from 50 per cent to 65 per cent - and investigate converting office buildings into residential units.

The budget includes no significant funding for changes to Indooroopilly’s Walter Taylor Bridge, despite the council releasing choices earlier this year.

Schrinner said Brisbane City Council was waiting for a joint working party to be established with the Queensland government.

Major road upgrades in Council’s 2023-24 budget

• Kenmore: Fig Tree Pocket Road and Kenmore Road - $14.7 million.
•  Underwood: Priestdale Road to Underwood Road -  $38.5 million over three years.
• Chermside: Hamilton Road and Western Avenue - $6.9 million
• Aspley: Beams Road  - $76 million pending federal government approval.
• Tingalpa: Hemmant Tingalpa Road - $3 million.
• Mt Ommaney - Dandenong Road and Central Avenue - $3.5 million.
• Indooroopilly - Moggill Road corridor upgrade - $100 million over two years.
• Doolandella - Blunder Road traffic light works - $1.8 million.

The RACQ said the road and transport expenditure of $2.38 billion – including the green bridge program and the Brisbane Metro mega bus – was significant.

“That is 55 per cent of the total budget. That is real focus on delivering some really sustainable transport outcomes,” said Dr Michael Kane, the head of RACQ’s public policy.

He said the RACQ also welcomed the $41 million for footpath repairs, introducing the Gold CityGlider service to run from Hamilton Northshore to Woolloongabba, and the $431 million for the $1.7 billion Brisbane Metro project.

Brisbane City Council opposition leader Jared Cassidy and deputy leader Lucy Collier criticise the priorities of the LNP’s 2023-24 budget.Credit: Tony Moore

Council opposition leader Jared Cassidy said the administration failed to provide real cost-of-living assistance to Brisbane ratepayers.

“Well, out in the suburbs, not much at all,” Cassidy said.

Labor believed the budget should have provided another rates freeze, Cassidy said.

“We believe the budget should be reprioritised back towards service delivery in the suburbs of Brisbane, rather than on a few key inner-city projects.”

Cassidy would deliver the full budget reply on Friday.