Gold Coast City Council delivers rates freeze for COVID-19 recovery, ‘most constructive’ budget in years

Gold Coast ratepayers are being delivered a rates freeze. It is among a number of major moves announced as council today handed down its budget. READ THE FULL DETAILS HERE

GOLD Coast ratepayers are being delivered a rates freeze as council today handed down a $1.7 billion budget to help steer the city on the road to recovery from COVID-19.

Gone are controversial items like the offshore cruise ship terminal at Philip Park on The Spit and the cableway in the hinterland.

In their place will be an increased budget for roads and a focus on community projects to help boost employment as the Glitter Strip recovers from coronavirus.

Mayor Tom Tate. Picture Glenn Hampson

Many homeowners will be afforded rate relief.

Mayor Tom Tate, in his budget speech in the council chambers at 9.30am, described it as “one of the toughest budgets I have ever worked on”.

He said he was proud of the Roads to Recovery Budget and how councillors and city officers have worked tirelessly to ensure that this budget was the right response for the city at a challenging time.

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“We are very confident that we cannot only recover but come out even stronger than before.

All Principal Place of Residence ratepayers will receive a financial rebate of $64 which means that 137,800 of these ratepayers will receive a general rate reduction,” he said.

The Budget was significant in that it prompted no opposition from councillors. Former councillor Dawn Crichlow had spoken against last year’s budget.

A council insider told the Bulletin: “The CST is gone. There is no money for a cableway. There is a lot of stuff there to help with coronavirus. We’ve lifted the spending on roads.

“It’s a good budget. It’s one of the more sensible budgets. What we have done to do this, we have had to pay off significantly less debt.”

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A councillor told the Bulletin: “This has been the most constructive budget in years. The economic situation meant we had to invest in genuine infrastructure.”

Councillors believed their input was heard much more in special budget meetings behind closed doors, with the Mayor unable to push for some of his less favoured pet projects.

The budget has been labelled “sensible” and “constructive” by councillors. Picture: Jerad Williams

Under seating arrangements for COVID-19, Mayor Tom Tate handed down his ninth budget with fewer senior staffers in the Evandale Chamber.

Gallery onlookers and media were required to stay in the council foyer.

The previous budget, held in the lead-up to this year’s March poll, had delivered

an average rate increase of just 1.68 per cent, less than a dollar a week.

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Record spending on roads and transport saw over $280 million targeted at congestion-busting

Council debt at the time of the previous budget was at $624 million which compared to $865 million in 2012-13. The Coast was continuing to outperform Queensland with unemployment at 4.34 per cent, compared to the state average of 6.2 per cent.

Coronavirus has changed all those economic variables for the worse.

The Bulletin will update, from the Budget Papers, on the future economic outlook during reports later today.