Clarence council adopts budget, Tony Mulder criticises captial works spend

The Clarence Council has adopted its new budget and rates rise, but one councillor was not impressed with the numbers. WHAT HE SAID >>

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The Clarence Council has approved it’s 6.5 per cent rate rise, as part of its budget for next financial year, but one councillor has criticised the cost of capital works funded.

The council adopted its budget, new fees and its rate increase on Monday.

Clarence Council mayor Brendan Blomeley told the Mercury last week the budget was below the Consumer Price Index for March of 6.9 per cent.

He said the council had made prudent financial decisions.

On Monday, the majority of elected members were supportive of the budget and new charges, but Cr Tony Mulder believed there were more savings to be had.

“I do not believe the budget has been a careful balancing act, instead we have pursued an aspirational capital works program that seriously risks commencing a debt and deficit spiral in a time of dramatically rising interest rates which can only be funded by already struggling ratepayers,” Mr Mulder said.

Clarence councillor Tony Mulder. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE.

“We should go back to the drawing board and move forward with a more conservative capital works program and refocus on maintenance and core service delivery.

“Leave the cranes in the sky projects to private enterprise and the state and federal government election promises.”

Cr Beth Warren said the council had higher expenses because of cost of living increases.

“We do know if we delivered the same services we delivered last year, it would cost us 8.1 per cent more, because that’s the cost of doing business this year,” Ms Warren said.

“We can’t please everybody but we believe it’s a sensible budget that delivers the services for the lowest cost we could manage without putting the council into severe financial hardship.”

Deputy mayor Allison Ritchie said the budget was balanced.

“Years of good financial management have allowed council to keep our increases below CPI and given the current cost and inflation perspective, sound financial management allows to continue to provide stability to our residents,” Ms Ritchie said.

Clarence Council deputy mayor Allison Richie. Picture: Linda Higginson

“While no budget is ever going to be perfect for any of us, this budget seeks to strike a balance with our recurrent expenditure requirements and continuing to invest in the future, while being mindful of cost of living pressures.”

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Clarence mayor Brendan Blomeley says the council’s proposed rate rise of 6.5 per cent could have been higher if the council hadn’t made savings elsewhere, as the council grapples with increasing operational costs and population growth.

Mr Blomeley said the increase would translate to an additional $127 per year.

He said like many councils, Clarence had faced increased costs.

“There’s issues like constructing a new after school and family day care ($2.5m), the cost of delivering those projects, the cost associated with infrastructure upgrades … those costs have increased, that’s not unique to Clarence,” Mr Blomeley said.

“We’ve experienced population growth of 12 per cent, that’s compared to nine per cent for Tasmania.”

Clarence Mayor Brendan Blomeley. Picture: Linda Higginson

Rate plans are available for those experiencing financial hardship.

He said council had managed to keep the increase below the Consumer Price Index for March of 6.9 per cent.

“The people in our community are doing it tough, we’re acutely aware people are struggling,” Mr Blomeley said.

“The reason we’ve been able to ensure it is only a 6.5 per cent increase is because we’ve had prudent financial decision making in the past.

“We’ve had to spend many hours sharpening the pencil and making the tough decisions … with this process there are winners and losers.”

The council will save $1m in its budget by scrapping their hard waste collection, a once a year service.

“In the month of October, people had the opportunity to dump their hard waste on the nature strip … mattresses, bikes, coffee machines,” Mr Blomeley said.

“Less than five per cent of what is collected as hard waste is able to be recycled, 95 per cent of it goes straight into landfill

“From Clarence’s perspective, we want to be leaders in the sustainability space and we will save a million dollars by not having hard waste collection.”

In the 2022-23 period the council overspent on hard waste collection by nearly $300,000.

The council will vote on the budget on Monday, and if approved, it will include an $28m capital works program.

That includes $6.1m on an upgrade to Pass Road, $6.5m on road and footpath upgrades and nearly $4m on upgrades to facilities.

There are also increases to the fees the council is required to collect on behalf of the state government, with an increase of 5.3 per cent in the Fire Services Contribution.