City of Yarra residents to be slugged with rate rise

City of Yarra property owners will be hit with a three per cent rate rise in a move the mayor says is justified as it focuses on “delivering more projects and services for locals”.

Property owners in the City of Yarra will be slugged a three per cent rise in rates as part of the council’s draft budget.

The three per cent rates rise is the maximum allowed under the Victorian government’s rates capping system for next financial year.

Household bin charges in Yarra will also be capped at three per cent – despite it not being covered under the Victorian government’s cap scheme.

Yarra Mayor Stephen Jolly had campaigned against the bin charges and said he was still committed to abolishing them in future.

“We’re not backing off from that (commitment) but technically we can’t do that until next year,” he said.

“The scenario where (bin charges) got jacked up by 15 per cent last year, that will never happen again.

Yarra mayor Stephen Jolly and deputy mayor Sarah McKenzie outside Richmond Town Hall. Picture: Mark Stewart

“The public will never be tricked again by a rates charge that is a sneaky way of getting around the rates cap.”

Mr Jolly said that the council could justify the three per cent rate rise due to the council focusing on delivering more projects and services for locals.

“It’s possibly the most important budget in the history of Yarra,” he said.

“We’re putting our foot down on capital works and expanding community infrastructure such as sports facilities.

“There’s a $7m investment in fixing roads and footpaths.”

City of Yarra residents will be slugged a three per cent rise in rates. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The council’s budget includes a four-year infrastructure program worth $174.4m, which is 33 per cent more than what was delivered under the previous Greens-dominated council.

Some of the projects to be delivered include an expansion of the Richmond Library, upgrades to the council’s three leisure centres and redeveloping the bowls club in Alphington.

The boost in infrastructure spending comes as the Victorian government has set Yarra a target of having 44,000 new homes in the council area by 2051.

“If we don’t invest in this infrastructure now, we will have twice the number of people living in Yarra but they will be using the same number of parks and sporting facilities that we have now,” Mr Jolly said.

The council will also spend $900,000 to develop a comprehensive urban renewal strategy for Victoria Street, which has been plagued by issues from the nearby medically supervised injecting centre in North Richmond.

Victoria Street has been plagued by issues from the nearby medically supervised injecting centre. Picture: News.com.au

Another project to get restarted is to advocate for affordable housing to be delivered next to Collingwood Town Hall.

“We have put that back on the agenda and we want new apartments – aimed at low and middle income workers – to be built there,” he said.

“This housing will be reserved for nurses, firefighters, teachers and hospitality workers who have a connection to Yarra.

“These workers are critical to Yarra and we need to ensure they can afford a place to rent.”

The council is predicting a $15.5m surplus in 2025-26 and similar sized surpluses through until 2028-29.

Employee costs are expected to rise to $105.9m in 2025-26, up from $103.1 million this financial year. The council plans to reduce its staff headcount from the equivalent of 900 full time this financial year, to 879 in 2025-26.

City of Yarra councillors will debate the draft budget at Tuesday night’s meeting. It will be put to public consultation for four weeks before being voted on for adoption in June.

Originally published as City of Yarra residents to be slugged with rate rise