‘S*** sandwich’: North Sydney Council votes for 87 per cent rate hike after $122 million pool debacle
Angry residents have fronted a chaotic council meeting where members voted in favour of a huge rate hike after a $122 million pool redevelopment debacle.
Dozens of angry Sydney residents have fronted a chaotic council meeting where members voted in favour of an almost 100 per cent rate hike after a $122 million pool redevelopment debacle, with one local describing the situation as a “s**t sandwich”.
There were shambolic scenes in the North Sydney Council chambers on Monday night, with tempers repeatedly flaring in the hot and stuffy room as some 30-odd residents lined up for more than three hours to take turns expressing outrage at the proposed 87 per cent rate increase.
The motion ultimately passed 7-3, with the application for a special rate variation (SRV) now set to be determined NSW’s independent regulator, sparking cries of “bring on the next election” from the rowdy public gallery.
Under the SRV, North Sydney residents will be hit with a 45 per cent increase in 2025-26 and 29 per cent in 2026-27. The minimum residential rate, currently paid by 72 per cent of residents, will rise from $715 per quarter to $1200 in 2025-26 and minimum business rate from $715 to $1400.
Mayor Zoe Baker, an independent, angrily clashed with the public gallery throughout the tense meeting, demanding they “show some respect”.
“I’m stopping the clock because this is an outrage!” she snapped during one disruption. “You’re happy to listen to the Liberal Party councillors but you will not listen to those who aren’t!”
Cr Baker said the rate hike was necessary due to “more than a decade of neglect by the former Liberal-aligned council”.
The botched redevelopment of the heritage-listed North Sydney Olympic Pool, which has seen projected costs blow out from around $30 million to a total estimate of $122 million, has left council with $61 million in external debt and drained internal infrastructure reserves of another $30 million.
Non-rates revenue such as parking fell by another $9.9 million as a result of Covid, leaving council facing a “liquidity crisis” and the “need for the rate rise to secure financial sustainability for the next generation”, she said.
Council’s report said an infrastructure maintenance backlog of $146 million also contributed to the need for the rate rise.
Only 5 per cent of respondents in council’s community engagement survey backed the 87 per cent proposal.
North Sydney resident Justin Curry spoke of his “concern and horror” at the proposed increase.
“I’ll be paying $300 per week in rates for no extra benefit,” he said. “My neighbour, an 82-year-old woman, she will also pay $300 a week. You have people who are asset rich and cash poor, elderly women living on teachers’ pensions. It’s outrageous.”
Judith White of Crows Nest urged council to “sharpen your pencils” and look for cost savings.
Felicity Wilson, state Liberal MP for North Shore, spoke at the meeting to share concerns raised by her constituents who were “resoundingly opposed” to the “cruel joke” of a rate hike, including some who said they would be forced to sell their units or cut back on food or medical expenses.
“This proposal is not just a number, it’s a real burden for families, business owners and even renters in our community when the cost-of-living crisis has already taken such a toll,” she said.
Jaimee Rogers, federal Liberal candidate for Warringah, said average rates for businesses would rise from $6000 to $13,000. “They have said to me they don’t know how they can physically manage this increase when they are already struggling to make ends meet,” she said.
“One pensioner said to me, after she pays her bills she has no money left for food. She said to me, ‘How on earth am I going to survive this?’ People have said to me, ‘They assume we’re all rich in this area but they couldn’t be more wrong.’”
Cremorne resident George Loiterton slammed the council’s long-term plan, also voted up at the meeting, which would be funded by raising an extra $558 million from ratepayers over 10 years under the SRV.
“This is complete overkill,” he said.
Local resident Andrew said as an owner of both commercial and residential property “I’m going to get done twice”, as he backed calls to “sack the council”.
“Someone needs to get the boot,” he said. “You’ve lost control of your finances. Eighty-seven per cent for me and 100 per cent for my commercial property, but I’ll do it. It’s called a s**t sandwich but I’m going to eat it. I might as well take the shirt off my back and give it to you.”
Local Brandon Ilich compared the situation to a family or business that borrowed too much, demanding council consider selling off assets instead to reduce the balance sheet.
“An individual can’t go to his boss and say, ‘I want to double my wage,’” he said. “A business can’t say, ‘I’m going to double the price of my takeaway meal or my haircut.’ They’re going to slug ratepayers who have no choice. We’re treated as sitting ducks.”
Julie Townsend-Medlock slammed council for proposing an additional $157 million in spending while attempting to navigate a financial crisis.
“It’s easy to spend other people’s money,” she said. “We don’t want you to take more of our money because you’ve badly managed the money we’ve given you. It feels like daylight robbery.”
Waverton resident Lisa Middlebrook suggested council explore corporate partnerships such as naming rights deals for the pool to offset the cost.
Ms Middlebrook said she was “embarrassed” to say that she ran on the same ticket as Cr MaryAnn Beregi several years ago.
“To double people’s rates in a very short period of time is an opportunistic cash grab and it’s obscene,” she said. “There has been no record of where you’re going to be making budget cuts, cutting back, prioritising projects over a timeline like the rest of us would if we were faced with these pressures.”
Many were critical of council for running the consultation process over the Christmas period. The resulting expert report concluded that North Sydney residents had the “capacity to pay” the increased rates.
Michael Want, who previously ran for council, said he tried to “comprehend” council’s report which was a “beast of a document” but “didn’t understand it in any detail”.
He supported calls for further investigation from an independent expert or the state government.
Martin Dudley said North Sydney Council had “extremely low credibility” which it needed to restore “before you propose a massive uplift to rates”.
“If this was a normal commercial business then the board would be sacked,” he said.
A handful of residents spoke up in favour of the proposal, sparking jeers and boos from the crowd.
John Hancox said he was “one of the silent majority”, and likened those angry about the rate hike to “patients diagnosed with life-threatening lung cancer blaming the doctor”. “I enjoy the minimum rate, I have done for many years, it’s been such a bargain,” he said. “But it’s not sustainable, even ignoring Sydney pool.”
Wollstonecraft retiree Jennifer Sumsion also supported the rate rise to maintain the “wonderful services” provided by council in the face of “rapidly increasing population density”.
The NSW government’s urban density push requires North Sydney to accommodate 5900 new dwellings by 2029, with another 6000 in the Crows Nest-St Leonards precinct by 2026.
“We need to support ratepayers in genuine financial hardship, for example, deferred payments until the property is sold,” Ms Sumsion said.
Independent councillor James Spenceley said the proposal was “immature”. “It’s just pushing the burden onto the ratepayers,” he said.
“In a corporation you have to be careful because you might lose customers. We don’t lose ratepayers.”
Cr Efi Carr and Cr Jessica Keen, both Liberals, also opposed the SRV.
“The council says North Sydney residents have the capacity to pay,” Cr Keen said.
“Really I think we’ve heard enough tonight that North Sydney residents don’t have capacity to pay. This is hitting our young families and first homebuyers. It’s greedy, it reeks of poor governance and an admission of financial failure by the previous council.”
Speaking in favour, Deputy Mayor Godfrey Santer (Labor) said while the rate hike was “high they are off an incredibly low base”.
“My mobile phone bill for two phones is over $2000 per annum, almost $1000 more than what is being proposed for the minimum council rate,” he said.
Asset sales and further loans would be a “recipe for business failure”, Cr Santer added. “We can’t sell these assets because we won’t get revenue in later years.”
Cr Nicole Antonini, an independent, blasted the “audacity” of the councillors now opposed to the rate hike who had “actively supported the debacle of the pool project” in the prior council and were now trying to “undermine the council’s financial repair strategy”.
“Honestly it’s insulting to the intelligence of our community to think asset sales and slashing our services is what our community wants or expects,” she said.
Cr Chris Holding, independent, said the proposed increase would bring North Sydney to “parity” with neighbouring local government areas like Mosman, Willoughby and Lane Cove.
He pointed out that North Sydney Council, which represents about 69,000 residents in lower north shore suburbs including Cremorne, Kirribilli and Neutral Bay, was ranked as the fifth most advantaged local government area in the country by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
“What must we look like to the rest of Australia, with some areas coping with floods while we fail to fund our basic finances?” he said.
“Do North Sydney councillors really want to present themselves as the entitled Karens of Australia?”
NSW’s independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) will release its annual 2025-26 special variations decisions later this year. The deadline was February 3, but North Sydney Council was granted an extension to February 14 to make its application.
Originally published as ‘S*** sandwich’: North Sydney Council votes for 87 per cent rate hike after $122 million pool debacle
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