Noosa region short-stay providers will not have to pay renewal fee this year

The Noosa Council has delivered a record budget that deferred renewal fees for short-stay property owners and delivered a five per cent rates hike for most Noosa ratepayers.

The Noosa Council has endorsed its record $160m budget for 2022-23 and has deferred renewal fees for short-stay accommodation property owners.

Under the 2022-23 budget, most Noosa ratepayers will also experience a five per cent rates hike and increased waste charges.

On June 28, 2022, as the council adopted the budget, councillors also voted to defer the renewal fees for short-stay accommodation property owners for a year until after a review of Noosa’s short-stay local law.

Mayor Clare Stewart said the feedback from the industry was that resort managers and owners were saying their situation was different from a suburban house in that they had managers looking after the sites.

The mayor said the decision to waive the $150 renewal fees for all short-term accommodation providers was the fairest thing the council could do until the review.

The Noosa Council adopted the 2022-23 budget at the council chambers on June 28, 2022.

“It’s not the perfect solution, but it’s certainly a good solution until we go into that review,” Ms Stewart said.

The application fee will still be implemented from July 1.

Ms Stewart said more than 1500 short-stay property owners had taken advantage of this year’s waived application fee.

The mayor also said that under the budget, most Noosa ratepayers would experience a five per cent rates increase.

“Once waste charges and levies are included, the total rates bill for the average Noosa ratepayer increase equals 5.1 per cent or about $1.53 a week,” she said during her budget speech.

Pomona resident Brian O’Connor, who has lived in the hinterland town for 12 years, said it was a fair rate increase that had kept up with inflation.

“The hinterland is growing faster than the coast and there’s a need to make sure the budget expenditure is commensurate with the strain on the infrastructure,” he said.

The council will spend $42m on capital works in the 2022-23 financial year, with a focus on hinterland roads and bridges.

Black Mountain resident Annie Poon said she could afford the rates rise.

She was affected by the Black Mountain Road slip that occurred during the rain bomb earlier in 2022 and looked forward to more council roadworks in her area.