Townsville City Council ratepayers could be hit with rate rise, budget spend revealed

Townsville City Council has approved a budget that will lift rates for some while limiting cost of living pressure for residents. 2023/23 COUNCIL BUDGET EXPLAINED.

Townsville City Councillors meet to hand down the 2023-24 Budget. Picture: Leighton Smith.

Townsville ratepayers will pay an extra 3 per cent when their rates and utilities bill comes in this year, but there will be no increase to the rate in the dollar.

The impact of the 2021 land valuation increase is still expected to be felt, with some people tipped to pay additional rates, depending on value of their land.

Townsville City Council say they’ve made an effort to limit the cost of living pain in the 2023/24 budget, with people expected to pay about $1 extra a week.

Factoring in an increase of 3.4 per cent on utilities notice, an additional $1.42 a week, owner occupiers will pay less than $2.50 a week overall.

The average 3 per cent rise is a result of a no rate-in-the-dollar increase plus the impact of 2021 land valuations.

If your land valuations did not exceed the 10 per cent increase form the 2022/23 budget, it is unlikely you will see a hike in your rates.

At Wednesday morning’s full meeting of council, Townsville councillors voted to adopt its $892.6m budget, with the exception of Division 10 councillor Fran O’Callaghan, who cited numerous reasons why she was opposed.

Division 10 Councillor Fran O'Callaghan did not support Townsville City Council's 2023-24 budget. Picture: Leighton Smith.

Touting the budget as being “terrific and responsible” featuring “one of the lowest (rate) increases”, Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said it was less than other Queensland councils including Brisbane (3.45 per cent), Toowoomba (3.55 per cent), Gold Coast (5.5 per cent), Sunshine Coast (5.96 per cent), and Cairns (5.99 per cent).

“The cost of putting food on the table, fuel in the car and a roof over our head is getting more expensive and council is doing what it can to help ease that burden,” Cr Hill said.

The “modest increase” in rates was attributed to rising costs of electricity, fuel, materials and service for council.

Townsville City Council CEO Prins Ralston and Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill. Picture: Leighton Smith.

“Rates are based on the value of properties and the latest review by the Queensland Valuer-General resulted in some Townsville land values increasing by more than 270 per cent,” she said.

“To help owner-occupiers, council made the decision to cap any increases to 10 per cent per year and this year we remain committed to keeping that cap at the same level for those properties.

“Any increase home owner-occupiers may get in their general rate notice is due to the carry-over effects from the latest land valuations.”

Non-owner occupiers and commercial property owners would see no general rates rise after they felt the full effect of last year’s land value increases.

Council’s spending priorities revealed

Regarding community safety as a priority and “talking point for the community”, Townsville City Council will spend $14.9m on a range of measures to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

They include additional street lighting, more Community Response Vehicles and Community Safety Audits, expanding the CCTV network, and spending another $2m on the successful Park Boulder Protection Program.

Townsville City Councillors meet to hand down the 2023-24 Budget. Picture: Leighton Smith.

To ease the financial burden for residents, $29.6m will be spent on a range of concessions and pensioner discounts, the First Home Buyers Incentive, a range of grants, sponsorships, partnerships, and “generous” leases for community groups.

Key capital projects to support the city into the future have received significant funding including $3.1m for “affordable housing” at the North Rail Yards Project, Boundary St Water Main Replacement ($4.3m), Picnic Bay Reservoir Bypass Pipeline ($3.7m) and the Jensen Landfill Rehabilitation ($8.5m)

Council will continue to progress multi-year projects with the support of state and federal funding contributions including the Haughton Pipeline Project Stage 2 ($110m), Ross River Dam to Douglas Water Treatment Plant Pipeline Renewal ($27.7m), Cleveland Bay Recycled Water Treatment Facility ($10m), Landsdown Eco-Industrial Precinct ($55.7m), NQ Spark ($32.2m), and $4m to upgrade Mitchell St between Gregory St and Jezzine Barracks.

The council will invest $405.6m to deliver services and infrastructure across Townsville.

To create a “reliable city”, $284.8m will be spent improving roads, curbing and channelling, kerbside collection services, drains, water and wastewater networks, footpaths, parks and open space maintenance, playground renewal works and bikeway projects.

A figure of $49.2m will go towards essential maintenance works including roads, bridges, libraries, stadiums, community facilities, revitalising parks and green spaces and maintaining the road network.

For a “liveable, active city”, $23.2m will be spent maintaining sports facilities, galleries, the Civic Theatre, events, arts, pools and swimming lagoons, beach and foreshore protection, dog parks, community assets, playground maintenance and upgrades.

To keep the city tidy, $86.8m will go towards enhancing liveable open spaces, street cleaning and graffiti removal.

To support sustainability, $8.1m will be invested on solar projects, LED lighting, electric vehicles, free green waste, innovative and sustainable energy practices and assets.

Councillor speaks out against 2023/24 Budget

Division 10 Councillor and mayoral aspirant Fran O’Callaghan has again voted against a budget handed down by Townsville City Councillors.

Cr O’Callaghan did not regard it as adequate for the current economic conditions, saying she would have liked to see a “tighter, more responsible budget” when it came to supporting the city’s infrastructure and services for ratepayers.

Division 10 Councillor Fran O'Callaghan did not support Townsville City Council's 2023-24 budget. Picture: Leighton Smith.

“It’s not looking forward adequately to hone in on what the ratepayer pays their dollars and cents for,” Cr O’Callaghan said.

“In my view, council is stretching itself too thin with the multitude of projects that it’s reaching into, or desiring to have done, and the ratepayer is missing out.

“I want to see us doing the basics excellently, and let’s leave all the periphery stuff to others, because Townsville can’t afford what this council is trying to do.”

She said the proposed 2023/24 budget contained an “excessive” number of business cases and too much was being spent on community events and community support programs, including grants, partnerships, community development projects, inclusive community projects, and economic activation partnerships.

“I also believe that the rate-in-the-dollar for non-owner occupier residential properties should have been reduced to the same as owner occupied … there’s no difference to council and the cost of servicing the two categories,” she said.

Originally published as Townsville City Council ratepayers could be hit with rate rise, budget spend revealed