Fraser Coast councillors questioned over rate rise

Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour has already dubbed this year’s budget “the most challenging” his council has had to put together in years, as all indicators point to some hip pocket pain for the region’s ratepayers.

Paul Truscott, Jade Wellings and George Seymour of the Fraser Coast Council 2023. Fraser Coast ratepayers look set to take another hit to the hip pocket amid the rise in cost-of-living expenses in the council’s 2023-23 budget to be brought down in June.

Fraser Coast ratepayers look set to take another hit to the hip pocket amid the rise in cost-of-living expenses in the council’s 2023-23 budget to be brought down in June.

Rates are expected to increase after Mayor George Seymour announced earlier this month that rising costs and reduced government grants had delivered a $29 million hit to the council’s bottom line.

The Chronicle reached out to every councillor, along with Mr Seymour, to ask whether rates were likely to be lifted in the budget.

Only Mr Seymour, councillor Jade Wellings and councillor Paul Truscott responded.

Mr Seymour said the council was working hard to keep rate rises to a minimum “while still investing in the services and facilities our growing community needs”.

“With inflation above 7 per cent in Queensland and government grants to be reduced by $5 million in 2023/24, council is putting together one of its most challenging budgets in years,” he said.

“As every household or business knows, it is now costing more to keep the power on, pay for materials and purchase supplies.

Councillor Paul Truscott, Fraser Coast Regional Council.

“Despite these financial challenges, council is working hard to keep rate rises to a minimum while still investing in the services and facilities our growing community needs.

“What’s important is that we ensure we are financially sustainable over the medium to long term.”

Mr Seymour said councillors were participating in multiple workshops to finalise the 2023/24 budget that would be adopted in mid-June.

Mr Truscott said he understood the concerns about the rising costs of living and its impact on the community.

“These rises are across everything, and council certainly isn’t immune with costs for some projects such as roads doubling or more due to a wide variety of reasons,” he said.

“At this stage, we are in the process of finalising the upcoming budget, and while I am not sure if I can individually provide specific details at this time, I can assure you that we are working diligently to try and get a balanced approach. Which is not an easy task.

Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour.

“One subject on budgets that the community should be aware of is that council effectively operates two budgets, capital and operational. They are very different.

“More information about the budget, including rates adjustments, will be released in the coming weeks. I appreciate your patience and understanding as we finalise the budget and consider measures to address the challenges faced by our residents and community.”

Ms Wellings said she was concerned about the cost of living increasing.

“The cost of everything is increasing for individuals, businesses and even government,” she said.

“We have invested a significant amount of time and effort into this budget to try to do what we can, and it’s not finished yet.

“I don’t think any of us will be 100 per cent happy with it, but you can never get 100 per cent agreement when such a large group of people are responsible for the end product.

“The biggest struggle for us has been our operational budget, which is the day-to-day running of the council.

Fraser Coast councillor Jade Wellings. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“With the loss of significant grant funding, cost escalations (electricity, construction, waste – just to name a few), it has made for some very difficult discussions.

“As an individual councillor, it is very difficult to go through this process, the community are often asking me for things, and they enjoy and appreciate a lot of the services council provide on a day-to-day basis – swimming pools, libraries, tips, natural environment, community rangers, parks and open space, economic development and community leasing, just to name a few.

“And the same community are also asking us to please not increase rates and add to their ever-increasing financial burden.

“It’s very hard to strike the balance of providing what people want, but also being able to afford to pay for it and maintain financial sustainability over the longer term, when council’s day-to-day running costs are also increasing, just like everyone else’s.”