Bega Valley Shire Council vote to increase rates by 43 percent over two years
Bega Valley Shire Council has voted to increase rates by a substantial amount over the period of two years.
The South Coast News
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While residents along the south coast struggle with cost of living pressures, the Bega Valley Shire Council has voted to increase rates by a substantial amount spread over two years.
At a meeting on Wednesday, council voted to proceed with an application to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal for a permanent Special Rate Variation (SRV) of 43 percent.
“We voted for an SRV over two years that will generate the same additional revenue as a one off 43 percent increase over the 10-year Long Term Financial Plan,” Bega Valley Shire Mayor, Russell Fitzpatrick said.
The rise will see a 24 percent increase in the first year and a 21 percent increase in the second year.
According to Mr Fitzpatrick, the final decision to raise rates was made due to community consultation, recent grant funding and an independent report commissioned by council to assess the community’s capacity to pay.
“While realistically we need a 90 percent increase, we’ve listened to the community about the economic stresses they are experiencing, but this reduction will impact our ability to deliver the same levels of service across our operations,” he said.
While Mr Fitzpatrick said council had no choice but to vote on the increase, he also said the cost to deliver services and maintain community assets “continues to increase above the income council obtains each year”.
“It places pressure on council to continue to deliver the same services with less money,” he said.
The move comes after a community consultation period on the four proposed SRV options closed on January 16, 2023, which received more than 2,000 pieces of feedback online.
“We acknowledge and thank the community for the extensive feedback we received during the community engagement period,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.
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