‘Sack them all’: North Sydney councillors vote for 87 per cent rate rise at rowdy meeting

North Sydney councillors have voted to request a whopping 87 per cent rate rise for property owners over the next two years, but not before a fiery meeting in which dozens of residents condemned the increase as “unconscionable” and “daylight robbery” during a cost-of-living crisis.

About 40 people who spoke at the meeting were among a hostile crowd of more than 100 – including North Shore Liberal MP Felicity Wilson, NSW Liberal MLC Natalie Ward and Warringah Liberal candidate Jaimee Rogers – who rallied outside and vented their fury inside the council’s chambers.

Ratepayers urged the council to cut spending, sell off assets, or peddle the naming rights to North Sydney Oval, rather than slugging them with a rates rise.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Independent Mayor Zoe Baker repeatedly had to call the meeting to order, at one point saying there was “no need to abuse those with whom you don’t agree”, as members of the public gallery shouted “liar”, “shame” and “sack them all” as the debate raged for nearly four hours on Monday night.

It’s the second Sydney council to trigger uproar over a proposal to raise rates this year after Northern Beaches councillors voted to support hiking levies by up to 40 per cent last month.

North Sydney resident Julie Townsend told the meeting the “unconscionable” increase “feels like daylight robbery” given that residents had been under “enormous” financial strain for the past few years.

“During those years, we tightened our belts. Yet, the council expanded its plans for a $30 million Olympic pool refurbishment into a $122 million [project], and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

Townsend criticised an independent assessment which found residents had the “capacity to pay … as if that gives you carte blanche to take as much as you wish.

“If there is capacity in some households, there is certainly not willingness, and we don’t want to throw good money after bad.”

Another speaker, Andrew, said he owned a residential and commercial property, and the double rates hike was a “s--- sandwich” that would “kill” him financially.

“Someone – not the councillors – must lose their job because you’ve lost control of your finances.”

Residents gather outside the council’s chambers on Miller Street.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Rogers said the hike had “come at the worst time” and residents were “extremely concerned” about how they would afford it.

“People have said to me, ‘They assume we’re all rich in this area, but they couldn’t be more wrong’.”

Ratepayer John Hancock, however, said he supported the proposal, and the blame for the council’s financial woes “lies squarely not with this council, but with their predecessors”.

“I enjoy the minimum rate, I have for many years. It’s a bargain, but it’s not sustainable. For [my annual rate of] $1305, council does a magnificent job of providing our services.”

Baker told the meeting the North Sydney Olympic Pool redevelopment was to blame for nearly 30 per cent of the required rates rise “and even more when we calculate the neglect of other assets due to the diversion of funds into this bloated vanity project”.

“No councillor on the former Liberal-aligned council can feign ignorance of the foreseeable financial consequences of those decisions because at every turn [we] raised red flags and concerns,” she said.

Councillor Jessica Keen, who served a previous term on the council, said the rise was greedy.

“This is not about the pool. The special rates variation is going to provide the council with $558 million of incremental revenue. The pool as a part of this SRV is around the $50 million mark,” Keen said.

More than 100 protesters gathered outside the council chambers, bearing signs with the slogans “no mandate” and “assets are not sacrosanct”. Credit: Wolter Peeters

Baker said the presence of a Liberal candidate at the meeting in the federal seat of North Sydney – held by Independent Kylea Tink – before an election “reinforces that party politics is here seeking to stoke community division and hijack reasonable debate on these complex facts and causes”.

“This is not the time for cheap politics and populism. We must make the decision in the broader public interest,” Baker said.

Staff recommended lifting rates for home owners and businesses by 87.05 per cent over two years, after the council warned it would have to make “critical decisions” to fix its “unsustainable” finances.

It blamed its budget woes partly on the ballooning cost of the pool revamp, which is forecast to cost $122 million.

From left: Independent councillor James Spenceley, Liberal councillor Jessica Keen, Liberal councillor Efi Carr, North Shore state MP Felicity Wilson, NSW Liberal MLC Natalie Ward, Liberal candidate for Warringah Jaimee Rogers.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The proposed rates rise for home owners and businesses would include a 45 per cent increase in levies in 2025/26 and a 29 per cent jump the following financial year.

Councillors voted 7-3 in favour of the proposal. Liberal councillors Keen and Efi Carr, and Independent James Spenceley voted against it.

The decision means the council will apply to the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) this month for a special rates variation.

Outside the meeting, Neutral Bay resident Ian Russ said residents protesting the increase were not “rabble-rousers”, and the council’s financial circumstances were “completely outrageous. It’s a dog’s breakfast”.

“The councillors in the voting bloc should hang their heads in shame. It won’t stop here. There’s no way IPART’s going to approve an 87 per cent rates rise.”

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