SHOALHAVEN City Council will apply to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) for permission to increase general rates by 4.6 per cent above the rate pegging limit (3.4 per cent) for the current financial year.
This amounts to an 8 per cent rates hike.
Council said the increase would provide it with an additional $2.3 million, all of which would be allocated towards road and path renewal in 2013/14 ($1.8 million on roads and $500,000 on pathways).
Council staff have created a discussion paper to explain the proposed rating increase, outline council’s current budget situation and identify the specific areas the additional funding would be spent.
Shoalhaven Mayor Joanna Gash said she hoped all local residents would take the time to read the simple document before making comment on the area’s future rating structure.
“It is little secret that council will be facing a situation of increasing deficits over the coming years if expenditure is kept at similar levels,” said
Cr Gash.
“Recent survey data, carried out as part of the ongoing Community Strategic Plan review, show that the majority of respondents are currently dissatisfied with the quality of the area’s roads and paths.
“While this is understandable, current financial modelling indicates that without a significant increase in revenue council will be unable to fund desired future capital works programs or increase spending on the maintenance and renewal of existing infrastructure assets.
“If council chooses not to proceed with the special variation application, there will need to be a significant reduction in service levels with council already having made a commitment to increase spending on roads over the coming year.”
The confirmation of the bid to lift rates above the rate pegging limit brought swift condemnation from Cr Andrew Guile, who accused council of leaving
community consultation to the last minute.
“After ramming through an 8 per cent rate rise late last year, Shoalhaven City Council has again left the required community consultation to the last minute in a bid to add $8 million to the budget of council over the next three years,” Cr Guile said, accusing Mayor Gash of not being upfront about the reason for the increase.
“On the one hand Joanna Gash says we are forced into the increases or we will face cash flow issues into the future while at the same time the accompanying brochure says that the increases will be channelled
to new projects. Both cannot
be true.
“Not one Gash party councillor has provided any justification for why this is 8 per cent and not 4 per cent or 12 per cent.
“Other savings have still not been quantified but I guess if you are committed to increasing taxes and you’ve got the numbers on the floor then all the other measures are just meant to be a distraction.
“It is classic political party arrogance,” he said.
Cr Guile dismissed the research conducted for the Community Strategic Review as a “sham”.
“The 180 surveys even included councillors as well as a number of other specially chosen people. There was no attempt to get a cross-section of the community or even to get a statistically significant response.”
Cr Guile encouraged members of the community to speak up, urging them contact the general manager and all councillors to voice their concerns.
The Special Variation Discussion Paper can be
found on council’s website www.shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au,
at the Nowra and Ulladulla Administration Centres, all local libraries and leisure centres.