Toowoomba Regional Council to increase general rates, water charges again in new budget

Residents will have to deal with higher general rates and water charges, with the Toowoomba Regional Council announcing a slew of hikes in its latest budget.

Toowoomba Regional Council delivers budget. From left: Cr Geoff McDonald, Mayor Paul Antonio and Cr Kerry Shine. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Residents across the Toowoomba region will be slugged with higher general rates and water charges in the latest council budget, with the mayor pointing the finger at higher levels of government for the increase.

The Toowoomba Regional Council will achieve an impressive $783,000 surplus from the $551m 2021-22 budget, which was achieved thanks in large part to a 2.5 per cent general rate rise for urban residents.

This mirrored the 2.5 per cent rate increase from last year, which was the smallest bump in the past decade.

Most residents will pay a net increase to rates and charges of 2.76 per cent, which is worth about $91 a year.

Water access charges have also increased, with residents based outside Toowoomba hit the hardest thanks to a 6.1 per cent increase.

Toowoomba bulk water users will see a 3.4 per cent increase to the access charge.

A breakdown of revenue in the 2021-22 Toowoomba Regional Council budget.

Deputy Mayor and finance chair Councillor Geoff McDonald said the budget was “cautious but optimistic”, arguing rate increases were needed to meet the growing needs of residents.

“No one likes to see an increase, but you put that into perspective of the $5.4b that we have in assets,” he told the media on Wednesday.

“When we talk about water and wastewater assets, they are ageing.

“We need to make sure we meet that expectation of our community, not just now but into the future, but also maintain a strong financial outlook so we can react to responsibilities.”

Other service charges will also see an increase in the budget, including a 2.5 per cent jump for waste bin collection and a 2.4 per cent hike for the wastewater charge.

Mayor Paul Antonio defended the council’s decision to increase its rates and charges, pointing out how little the organisation received from the state and federal governments in the current budget.

A breakdown of expenditure in the 2021-22 Toowoomba Regional Council budget.

“There was a time when local government received one per cent of the total tax take in this country,” he said.

“Now we find ourselves in a competitive situation with a significant amount of the funding opportunities.

“We got $26m last year out of the state and federal government, out of our $551m budget — I don’t think that’s appropriate.

“We have to do the things we have to do, because we’re not getting funding from the higher levels.”

Mr Antonio said he thought the increases to rates and charges were “not too bad”.

“The worst thing we could do is not have an appropriate rate rise and start losing our capacity,” he said.

“This budget has been framed so we can do that now and do that into the future.”

Originally published as Toowoomba Regional Council to increase general rates, water charges again in new budget