17 per cent rate hike is 'too much', say residents

RESIDENTS are fighting back on Lismore City Council's suggestion of an immediate 17 per cent rate increase.

ROUND TWO: Lismore City Council has asked for feedback on a Special Rate Variation in its round two which offers three options. Picture: Lismore City Council

LISMORE City Council has admitted that the majority of people who took part in the special rates variation survey (SRV) think a 17 per cent increase is too high.

On the council website, it announced that, "round 2 of new rates proposal now open for community feedback."

On council's website it acknowledged resident resistance to their idea of a 17 per cent rise followed by a 6.9 per cent increase , "was higher than expected."

"We have listened to this feedback and developed a new proposal with smaller annual increases spread over a greater number of years," council said.

Round two rates consultation is taking feedback until September. 30

Lismore mayor Isaac Smith said additional funding from an SRV would be directed into roads and economic development.

"At present our roads are not improving - an SRV would enable us to channel more funds into road reconstruction and addressing our backlog of works. " he said.

"Funds would also be used to drive economic development initiatives and provide tangible benefits for the city."

Round 2 options

Option 1: No Special Rate Variation - Rates would rise only by the rate peg limit set by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART). This is assumed at a rate of 2.5 per cent each year.

Option 2: Special Rate Variation over four years - This option would provide $3.74 million total additional funds for roads and $1 million total additional funds for economic development over four years. Rates would rise by 7.5 per cent in year one (2020/21), 9.4 per cent in year two (2021/22), 3.9 per cent in year three (2022/23) and 3.2 per cent in year four (2023/24) including the annual rate peg.

Option 3: Special Rate Variation over two years (the original proposal) - This option would provide $4.5 million total additional funds for roads and $1.6 million total additional funds for economic development over two years. Rates would rise by 17 per cent in year one (2020/21) and 6.9 per cent in year two (2021/22) including the annual rate peg.

All feedback from round one and round two of the consultation will be provided to Council at its 12 November meeting where a decision on whether to make an application to IPART for an SRV will be made.

Visit www.yoursay.lismore.nsw.gov.au and hard copies are available at Council's Corporate Centre, 43 Oliver Ave, Goonellabah, and the Lismore and Goonellabah Libraries.