Salamanca Markets: TasPorts should help pay, Hobart mayor says

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds says no decisions have made yet on whether Salamanca Market stallholders will face rent hikes and has flagged asking TasPorts to help with market running costs.

Hobart Mayor Anna Reynolds. Picture: Chris Kidd

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds says no decisions have made yet on whether Salamanca Market stallholders will face rent hikes and has flagged asking TasPorts to help with market running costs.

Ms Reynolds said elected members would be briefed this week by staff who managed the market and council would also “listen to the views of stallholders”.

Her comments came after the Mercury revealed on Saturday that the City of Hobart was exploring upping stallholders’ weekly fees

“We’ve worked hard to keep the fees as low as possible, particularly during the Covid period when they were cut and we relied on 100 volunteers to help keep the market open,” she said.

“In the last five years a premium site has gone from around $74 a week in 2017 to $82 a week today.

“The new proposed fee would put this kind of stall at $91 a week for 2023.”

Stallholders fear there will be a massive hike in rents making them the most expensive in the country.

Stallholders Association vice-president Nadia Tanase says with rises in the cost of living, her takings were down about 30 per cent on pre-Covid levels and could not sustain her family.

“It’s been incredibly busy today with the cruise ship visitors but people aren’t spending on luxury items or gifts and things that aren’t a necessity,” she said.

Ms Reynolds said it could be time to look and “new and creative approaches to supporting Tasmania’s biggest tourist attraction”.

Alexander Chaplin of 7k Distillery, Emma Hope president of the Salamanca Stallholders Association, Jamie Seeger of Hobart Bead Co who are all Salamanca Market Stallholders. Salamanca Stallholders are set to be hit with a significant increase in stall rates over the next five years. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

She said TasPorts profited from cruise ships and she’d be happy “to ask them to also make a contribution to running the market”.

Fees help the council pay for three staff who manage all the administration, organising and promotion of the market and the nine staff on market days who set up and dismantle stalls, organise road closures and traffic arrangements, the setting up of extra bins and dealing with all the rubbish generated at the market.

“These staff also provide advice, security and trouble-shooting management of this huge weekly event. They also clean up the street afterwards. The market fees don’t cover all of these staff costs, so the market is subsidised by the City of Hobart ratepayers too.”

There are five categories of site at Salamanca Market based on size and location.

The most expensive is proposed to be $125, which compares with the most expensive at the Rocks Market in Sydney at $190, Paddington Market $140 and Bondi Market $122.