Residential ratepayers should brace for an increase of $500 a year if the proposed merger between Shoalhaven and Kiama proceeds, according to long-serving Councillor Greg Watson.
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“In terms of the impact on our residential ratepayers, Shoalhaven City Council is already foreshadowing increases which will lift the general rate to the average residential ratepayer by about $250 a year, as part of the Fit for the Future proposals,” he said.
If the mayor sits back like Nero and does nothing and lets this happen, it’s a disgrace.
- Greg Watson, Shoalhaven councillor
“Kiama Council has indicated it needs a 40 per cent rate increase. You add this to the existing high rates for the ratepayer in Kiama and this adds another $150- $200 a year to the Shoalhaven ratepayer’s burden.”
Some residential ratepayers would be paying an extra $500 a year, he said.
Cr Watson said as well as rates hikes, staff at both councils faced uncertainty.
“While their jobs are guaranteed for the next two years, the process of transformation which Shoalhaven staff have already gone through will happen again after that.”
He took aim at Shoalhaven Mayor Joanna Gash’s wait-and-see response to the merger proposal.
“If the mayor sits back like Nero and does nothing and lets this happen, it’s a disgrace. I will do everything I can to sheet home to those responsible the blame,” he said.
