Reader letter: High rates will push us out of our homes

A PENSIONER whose rates have risen from $788 to $1170 says the "brutal" costs are too much after previous rate rises.

Letter to the editor from Dell Darrach, of South Gladstone

I AGREE with Dr Mark Entezami on his article in The Observer, August 22 (Townhouse rates exorbitant, doctor says).

In 2008 my own unit Category 2 general rate was $650.

In the years through to 2011 it remained Category 2, then in 2012 it was changed to Category 5 at a cost of $757.

In 2013 it became known as Category 6.

In 2014 it jumped to $778 at Category 6, so you can understand my misgivings when my end-of-2015 rates notice showed a jump to Category 7 units eight lots to $1170.

Thinking a mistake had been made because of the massive rise from $788 to $1170, I rang Gil Rapkins in the council's rates department to discuss it with him.

I was told that because of the rating system we had been getting away with cheap rates for years, and to make it more equitable for the newly built units rising in Gladstone, the category had been changed to 7 for general rates.

My complex has 20 units built over 24 years ago and I'd just have to pay.

I am an aged pensioner and even with the discount allowed the costs are brutal to contend with such a rise, as we also battle with body corp costs of $2320 a year on top of rates .

This year's rates notice was the end, and I signed the petition online as my general rate alone rose to $1196.

We truly will be rated out of our homes at an age when we need peace of mind.

I feel for young folk trying to pay huge mortgages and always at the back of their minds, job security.

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Originally published as Reader letter: High rates will push us out of our homes