Sunshine Coast Council’s rate hike amid ballooning expenses

Sunshine Coast residents are forking out some of the highest rates in the state, while a closer look at the council’s budget has revealed spiralling costs.

Sunshine Coast Council chambers. Picture: Sam Turner

A steep rate hike for Sunshine Coast homeowners, blamed on an “inherited” miscalculation in previous council budgets, comes as the council quietly reveals spiralling operating costs.

Ratepayers were told in the Sunshine Coast Council’s budget, which was handed down earlier this month, to expect a rate hike of 7.4 per cent for the 2025-26 financial year.

However, the budget shows the bottom line increase for ratepayers will in reality be 11.14 per cent higher, nearly three per cent more than the council touted.

The rise places the region as the second most expensive local government area in Queensland for rate bills.

It can also be seen in the budget the increase will lead to a 12.96 per cent rise in total rates and utility charges collected by the council in the 2025-26 financial year compared to the previous year.

The hike was blamed by Sunshine Coast mayor Rosanna Natoli on an ongoing miscalculation of depreciation, however figures in the budget also show large increases in the operating costs of the council.

The depreciation error was revealed by council to have created a $20m hole in the budget after it impacted at least five years of financial statements.

The rate hike comes after the budget showed council employee costs increased by $15.9m, a rise of 8.5 per cent.

A council spokeswoman said a pause on recruitment would continue through this financial year to manage the costs as the workforce currently sits at 1906 full-time equivalent employees.

Materials and services costs also saw a jump of $33.2m in the budget, an increase of 13 per cent.

The council spokeswoman said supply and labour cost increases had impacted the figures, with plant and equipment hire up by 37.5 per cent.

The borrowing of $51.6m by the council was also outlined in the documents, with the spokeswoman stating the money was to be used to fund capital works.

“Council is borrowing to fund key capital works, such as infrastructure upgrades and community facilities, rather than placing the full cost on today’s ratepayers. This is a responsible and widely used approach during growth phases,” the spokeswoman said.

“Council operates a central treasury model and as such does not generally provide debt funding for specific projects or assets but rather uses debt funding to finance Council’s balance sheet, with the exception being for strategic projects.”