Campaspe council to slash rates by 50 per cent

Rochester homeowners will be given a fifty per cent discount on rates but it’s little help to those still displaced six months after the floods.

Flooded homeowners are being offered a fifty per cent discount on their council rates but it has proved to be cold comfort for those still unable to live in their houses.

Campaspe Shire Council has said it will forego $1.12 million for the rates reduction package and has written to those in mapped flood zones to let them know about the discount.

The reduction doesn’t go far enough for some families, who believe it should be reduced to zero if their properties were unliveable.

Ellie and Joel Trist count themselves lucky, as they were able to move into a new home just months after their Rochester house was ruined by the October floods.

Many of their friends are still living in caravans.

However, they still face the prospect of paying rates on a house they can neither live in nor rent out.

“Having a fifty per cent discount on the rates is certainly better than nothing,” Ms Trist said.

“But if you’re not putting out a rubbish bin or getting any benefit from owning it, I think it would be more fair if it was less.”

Ellie Trist with her mother Jayne Drury, holding grandson Reid. Ellie is holding her daughter Lila Trist, standing with them are brothers Archie and Lucas Trist. Picture: Julieanne Strachan

Hairdresser Leisa Cody, whose home on Moore St was destroyed, said she was not prepared to pay any rates on the property.

“The water, gas and electricity are all turned off and I’m not paying those bills,” she said.

“Why should I pay rates on it? The rates should be zero.

“Most people are living in other properties and paying rates there – why should they pay twice?

“The properties aren’t earning any other income.”

The Victorian Valuer General’s office has reassessed a number of homes in Rochester, Nanella and Echuca, and is likely to have a new set of figures ready by the end of April.

Campaspe Shire Council said in a statement that rates would be based on mapping data due to the scale of the task of revaluing properties.

“About 1000 properties have already had rate adjustments by the Victorian Valuer General as they have had a secondary impact assessment and been through the supplementary rates process,” it said.

“Using the North Central Catchment Management Authority’s (CMA) flood mapping we have been able to identify another 1508 properties yet to be assessed.

“All of these properties will receive rate relief this financial year.”

The fifty per cent reduction will be applied pro-rata from the time the flood hit, through to the end of the financial year.

The council will also credit a $200 “municipal charge” portion of rate bills back to property owners.

Rochester photographer Cristie Howe said she had not received a rates letter from the council yet, but was more worried about the state of her insurance claim.

“It’s been nearly six months and our house is still empty,” she said.

“Reports are still being written by builders for the insurance company.

“It just takes so long to get anything done.

“Every time I speak to the insurance company they ask if we’d like a pay out and we say ‘no’.

“We want our house repaired. We want to live in it. We don’t want to give it up.”

Ms Howe said she would likely attend the next big round of insurance meetings in Rochester, scheduled the week after Easter.

The Insurance Council of Australia said a group of insurers would hold a third round of in-person customer consultations at the Rochester town hall.

The sessions will be held on Tuesday, April 18 April and Wednesday April 19 April, with bookings online and available from noon to 8pm.

Acting chief executive officer Fiona Cameron said 12,936 claims had been lodged across Victoria since October, with an incurred loss value of $551.6 million.