Gympie ratepayers have 1 month to settle bills before land is sold

Revelations on when dozens of properties will likely be sold out from under their owners’ and the future of the region’s popular information centres are among a dozen things on Gympie council’s meeting agenda.

Sixty Gympie region landowners face having their properties sold out from under them if they do not settle three-year-old outstanding rates and charges bills, with November 18 revealed as their cut-off date.

Sixty Gympie ratepayers have one month to settle their outstanding rates bills or have their land sold from under them.

November 18 has been set as the cut-off for ratepayers who have not paid their rates, fees or charges over the past three years, according to Gympie Regional Council’s latest financial report.

In July, the council agreed to cut the cord on 89 outstanding bills, telling landowners they had three months to settle their debts or their properties would be put to auction.

One third of these land owners took advantage of this last chance to clear the books, the report says.

The clock remains ticking on the rest.

The financial report is one of a dozen items up for debate by councillors at Wednesday’s meeting, the third last for the year.

A decision on whether to open a visitor information centre at the Traveston service station on the Bruce Highway is also expected to be made.

Councillors are being asked to endorse spending $24,000 to open a new, unmanned information centre at the Traveston service station.

The council’s staff are recommending the council outlay more than $24,000 to open an unmanned centre at the popular roadside stopover, ideally under a 10-year lease.

It is the second cheapest of four options on the table, which range from about $10,500 for doing nothing and maintaining the status quo at Lake Alford’s centre, to about $45,000 for a set-up with interactive technology and volunteer staff.

Community grants are on the menu too, with $78,077 expected to be given in the first round – $34,528 for the first round of Regional Arts Development and almost $78,000 in the first round of this year’s environment grants.

Alana Belford and Cailey Watson are among the residents who could look forward to enjoying Christmas in the Park once more, with the council recommending $15,000 be spent helping to bring the event back after last year’s Covid-caused cancellation.

The council’s environment grant process has been under fire over the past 12 months.

Green groups slammed the council’s delay in handing out funding as “unprecedented” while Mayor Glen Hartwig claimed previous years’ processes were “unlawful”, with questions swirling about a grant stream distributed without ever being approved by councillors and funding above what was originally budgeted.

The council’s staff are recommending doling out 90 per cent of the $85,488 on offer in this first round.

The return of Christmas on the Park following last year’s Covid-enforced cancellation is on the agenda with the council expected to give the event a $15,000 helping hand, the same funding it received before the pandemic.