Yarra City Council set to hike controversial bin tax

Yarra City Council’s plan to hike its controversial ‘bin tax’ by 30 per cent has been described as “crazy”, with the council accused of being at war with its residents.

The controversial Yarra City Council ‘bin tax’ is set to soar by about 30 per cent in only its second year, fuelling concerns that the Greens-led council is trying to circumvent the state-imposed rate cap.

The Herald Sun last year revealed Yarra City Council’s plans for a separate waste levy, which now slugs residents up to $115 annually on top of their general rates bill.

But residents’ fears that the levy would skyrocket in the years to come have been realised after the 2024-25 draft budget revealed an average 30 per cent increase to the kerbside waste rate.

Independent councillor Stephen Jolly said he was astounded when he discovered the council was planning to hike the kerbside waste rate by almost a third.

“I personally thought they would not go so crazy this year, given there’s an election in October,” he said.

“What politician anywhere in the world acts like an idiot before an election?”

Independent councillor Stephen Jolly says the kerbside waste rate is a ‘trick to get around the rate cap’. Picture: Alex Coppel

Yarra City Council mayor Edward Crossland says the budget will ‘deliver the essential services and infrastructure our community needs’. Picture: City of Yarra

All Victorian councils are prevented from increasing their rates by more than 2.75 per cent, under the most recent rate cap set by Local Government Minister Melissa Horne.

Mr Jolly said the introduction last year of a separate waste levy – comprising the kerbside and public waste rates – was a “trick to get around the rate cap”.

“By separating the bin tax, you immediately aren’t subject to the rate cap, so they can jack it up exponentially,” he said.

But a Yarra City Council spokeswoman said the increase to the kerbside waste rate “largely reflects” the costs associated with the introduction of a fourth bin to approximately 44,000 properties this year for the collection of food and garden organic (FOGO) materials.

“The state government requires all councils to introduce a FOGO service by 2030,” she said.

“The council has worked hard to keep the cost of implementing and delivering the FOGO service as low as possible without compromising the quality or efficiency of the service.”

However, waste levies are set to go up by only 2.7 per cent in the City of Port Phillip, 7.5 per cent in the City of Hobsons Bay and 0.1 per cent in the City of Bayside.

Residents protested outside Richmond Town Hall last year to rally against the introduction of a bin tax. Picture: Jason Edwards

Yarra City Council’s draft budget also reveals the council’s plans to splash more cash on private consultants, with costs to increase by 140 per cent.

“Miraculously, like Jesus in the New Testament, they’ve found money for private consultants,” Mr Jolly said, while noting fees for aged and health services increased by 21 per cent, leisure centres by 11 per cent and child care by 5.6 per cent.

“This is a council at war with its citizens,” he added.

But in an Instagram post, Yarra City Council mayor Edward Crossland said the draft budget has been developed to “deliver the essential services and infrastructure our community needs”, while also “planning ahead to meet future needs of our community as it grows and changes”.

He said his “highlights” included upgrades to sporting facilities, the acceleration of its tree planting program and improvements to walking and cycling infrastructure.

The bin tax slugs households up to $115 annually. Picture: Jason Edwards

In March, the Herald Sun revealed that Victorian councils have been busted “gouging” up to $200m from their communities through bin taxes.

A Council Watch investigation found that more than half the state’s 79 councils are adding “fake costs” to waste and recycling levies.

The levies are paid in addition to the general rates bill and are meant to recover costs related only to kerbside collections, but many councils are using the levies to pay for other services, such as street sweeping and graffiti removal.

A Yarra City Council report last year said separating the waste levy was a “critical component to ensuring council’s future financial sustainability is not eroded further”.

The draft budget is open for community consultation until May 10.