Casey Council rate arrears soar more than $14 million
Casey Council’s rate arrears have soared amid the pandemic, with homeowners owing millions in debt. Here’s what it means for big projects and services in the municipality.
South East
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Casey homeowners owe more than $14 million in rates as the financial hardships of COVID-19 continue to take a toll.
A Leader analysis can reveal rates balances in arrears grew 35 per cent during 2019-20 from $18.8 million to $25.4 million at June 30 last year.
Balances declined to $14.6 million at December 31, 2020 as ratepayers made payments.
The council froze penalty interest on outstanding rate balances from March 2020 to March 31, this year, with $1.5 million foregone across 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Casey Council Pandemic Response manager Holly De Kretser said the council had not pursued legal processes for debt recovery of rates in arrears until April 2021.
“The City of Casey has complied with the 2 per cent rate cap in 2020-21 and officers will be briefing council and seeking to comply with the 1.5 per cent rate cap for 2021-22,” she said.
It can also be revealed in the latest annual report, the chief executive’s total remuneration package was between $470,000 and $480,000
Ms De Krester said the council continued to operate and provide services to the community throughout the pandemic, with no staff having their pay reduced.
“We were able to maintain employment for all our staff during the pandemic, although some staff were redeployed to different duties if the service they normally provided was affected by the public health restrictions or changes to service,” she said.
Ms De Krester said council budgets to support services and infrastructure delivery were affected by the pandemic and moderated development activity, with revenue from rates, charges and other fees $8.3 million lower compared to the past annual budget.
“In the City of Casey’s 2020-21 budget, the equivalent revenue was revised down by $6.8 million to take into account continued COVID-19 disruption during 2020-21 until September 2020 as a key budget assumption.”
Ms De Krester said no services were under threat as a result of the pandemic, with
quick response grants fast-tracked to support local community groups.
She said Stage 4 restrictions had affected schedules for a number of small to medium scale infrastructure projects due to the reduced number of workers permitted onsite at any one time. “Program scheduling has been adjusted accordingly with most projects still estimated to be completed by expected handover dates.”
There were also several projects and initiatives in 2019-20 Action Plan that were either affected in part or weren’t fully delivered including completing the aged care service review and development of the Doveton Pool in the Park masterplan.
The council delivered several significant capital works projects in the past financial year including the Casey Fields regional Soccer facility in Cranbourne East, the refurbishment of Casey RACE, and the construction or refurbishment of a number of community facilities.
Ms De Krester said responding to the unprecedented events and impacts of the pandemic within the community and more broadly, while continuing to meet the needs of the growing population were some of the challenges the council faced.
She said the council would continue to work with and advocate to the state and federal governments to ensure major rail and transport upgrades delivered an integrated and reliable network to Casey residents.
Ratepayers Victoria president Dean Hurlston said several councils had made statements about grants, rebates and helping the community.
“This has ultimately trickled down to very fair few and in many cases has been burdened by excessive administration processes,” Mr Hurlston said.
“While we applaud councils that have capped salary increases, our deepest concern remains with the ballooning arrears from residents and ratepayers across the state.”