Mildura rates: Council draft budget 2021-22 rise of 1.5 per cent, blamed on COVID

A rural community hit hard by the effects of the pandemic and drought is now facing another push on their finances.

Mildura councillors are set to vote on whether to adopt a recommended 1.5 per cent rate rise.

Ratepayers are about to get slugged again after Mildura Council voted to adopt a draft budget that hikes rates up to the maximum permitted under State Government rules.

This is the second year in a row the council will controversially push for the top tier increase after last year’s rise of 2 per cent drew community ire.

The State Government passed the Fair Go Rates cap in parliament in late 2015, which stopped councils making uncontrolled rises above CPI.

Councillors met on Wednesday to vote on whether to adopt the draft budget, which included a 1.5 per cent rate rise.

All eight councillors present voted in favour of the motion.

Cr Glenn Milne was an apology for the meeting.

Cr Mark Eckel asked what impact consecutive budget deficits would have on the council.

General manager corporate Chris Parham said continued deficits was not considered appropriate.

Cr Liam Wood asked about the 1.5 per cent rate rise and what it would be used for.

Mr Parham said it was distributed across all services and capital works.

He said without the rise, the council would be facing deficit position of about $2 million instead of $1 million.

Cr Stefano de Pieri said the rate rise showed the need for help from higher tiers of government.

“It goes exactly to this issue of disparity between city and country with rates … for us it is a lot of money and it is a lot of money for ratepayers,” Cr de Pieri said.

According to the Know Your Council website, Mildura has an average rate bill per property of $2093, which is expected to go up this year by $32.

In the draft budget, Mildura Mayor Jason Modica said about $5 million in COVID support had been provided to the community.

Cr Modica also said the council had spent money maintaining road access and clearing sand drifts caused by drought in the Millewa region.

He said the council had made it a priority to ensure there was no reduction in community services.

“We are also acutely aware of keeping to a minimum the imposing of more financial pressures on to ratepayers, which is why we have not sought an increase over the Victorian Government’s Fair Go Rate Cap of 1.50 per cent,” Cr Modica wrote.

Capital works spending in the next 12 months include $18.9 million for Stage 2 of the Mildura South Regional Sporting Precinct and the Powerhouse redevelopment at the Mildura riverfront.

A further $12.8 million was set to be spent on roads projects.

Mildura Cr Glenn Milne, who campaigned for a rate freeze during October’s elections, said before the meeting that while he still believed in a freeze, it was time for the State Government to step up and help rural councils.

Cr Milne said a second consecutive operating deficit was a concern, and added “you can’t just keep putting up rates”.

“With everything people have gone through, there isn’t surplus cash out there, in fact it’s probably gone the other way,” Cr Milne said.

“So now more than ever I think you’re going to find people are going to kick up about their rate bills.

“There needs to be more pressure on the State Government to fix the broken system.”

Mildura’s average 2019-2020 rate bill per property of $2093 compared to an average of $1904 for similar councils and $1775 for all councils across the state, according to Know Your Council.

Only seven Victorian councils were found to have higher rates.

A decision by the previous Mildura Council during the COVID pandemic to increase rates, by what was then a maximum of 2 per cent, became a focal point of last year’s elections.

In a poll on The Mildura News Facebook page, 94 per cent of more than 100 respondents said it was the wrong call.

Councillors last month voted to support a campaign, dubbed RateGate, to change how Victoria’s rating system works.

Mildura state independent MP Ali Cupper said there was an imbalance between rural councils’ capacity to service their communities compared to city councils.

A petition intended to be tabled in the Upper House, sponsored by Fiona Patten of the Reason Party, has attracted 1229 signatures.

The Mildura municipality covers 22,330 sqkm, nearly 10 per cent of the state, and providing services to such a vast area is often cited as a factor in the setting of rates.

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