Mansfield tops the list for rate rises in Brisbane City Council 2018 Budget

SOUTHSIDE residents have copped some of the biggest residential rate rises in the city with Mansfield topping all 185 suburbs for the highest increase.

Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Graham Quirk presents the budget for the Financial Year 2018-2019. Picture: AAP Richard Walker

SOUTHSIDE residents have copped some of the biggest residential rate rises in the city with Mansfield topping all 185 suburbs for the highest increase.

The average rise was 2.5 per cent, or $40 a year, but Mansfield came in at 6.9 per cent, or $106.08 a year. There was good news for Algester residents, whose rates will decrease by 0.6%.

Wishart, Sunnybank Hills, Upper Mt Gravatt, Mt Gravatt East, Mackenzie, Sunnybank and Robertson were all in the top 20 suburbs for biggest increases.

Opposition leader Peter Cumming derided the $59m increase in rates and said low-income families could not afford it.

“This budget is just the final act of a political tragedy we have watched unfold in recent months as a stale administration lurches towards another election bereft of ideas,” he said.

Opposition leader Peter Cumming has derided the $59m increase in rates in the 2018 Council Budget.

He said forward estimates for future rate revenue revealed a $49 million rates increase in next year’s pre-election budget and a $70 million rise in the 2020-21 post-election budget.

Cr Cumming said 57 suburbs had a rates rise.

RATES RISE

In the city’s top 20

Mansfield: 6.9%

Wishart: 6.8%

Sunnybank Hills: 6.5%

Upper Mt Gravatt: 6.4% Mt Gravatt East: 6.3%

Mackenzie: 5.9%

Sunnybank: 5.8%

Robertson: 5.1%

WHERE THE MONEY GOES?

Faced with some of the highest rate increases in Brisbane, what are southside residents getting for their money in the latest council budget?

LNP Cr Kim Marx (Runcorn) insisted her residents were “big winners” with money to complete the Hellawell Rd and Borella Rd intersection upgrade plus new traffic lights at Hellawell Rd and The Avenue, and at Bellmead Rd and Warrigal Rd.

“Over the coming year, Council will also be progressing plans for a new aqua park within the Runcorn Pool Precinct which will create an exciting new summer destination for the entire community,” she said.

LNP Cr Angela Owen (Calamvale) said there would be a sports facility at Heathwood with two soccer fields and a cricket pitch.

There is $18m for the Johnson-Stapylton intersection upgrade and $107,000 for Habitat Place Park.

LNP Cr Steve Huang (MacGregor) said he was “very pleased” that $500,000 would go to the MacGregor State School Drop’n’Go facility, jointly funded with the State Government, plus $4.8m for the Player St connection.

“We continue to invest in our waterways with funding of $85,000 to help keep Bulimba Creek at Eight Mile Plains and Mimosa Creek at Macgregor clean, green and sustainable,” he said.

Labor Cr Steve Griffiths (Moorooka) welcomed a new district sports club at Rocklea but said major infrastructure projects had missed out.

He was disappointed the council had not allocated money to upgrade the Coopers Plains rail crossing, or the Kerry Rd and Beatty Rd intersection at Archerfield.

Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Graham Quirk.

WHERE OTHER SUBURBS FALL

Acacia Ridge: 3.9%

Algester: -0.6%

Archerfield: 2.2%

Burbank: 1.4%

Calamvale: 4.2%

Coopers Plains: 3.9%

Drewvale: 3.3%

Eight Mile Plains: 4.2%

Kuraby: 3.3%

MacGregor: 1.8%

Mt Gravatt: 4.3%

Nathan: 4.3%

Parkinson: 2.4%

Rochedale: 3.9%

Rocklea: 4.3%

Runcorn: 2.2%

Stretton: 3.6%

What do you think of the rate rise? Comment below.