WHILE residents seem divided about Gloucester Shire Council’s announcement of an almost 50 per cent rate rise over three years, Jason Blanch said it’s also going to have a massive impact on business.
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He said he already pays what he believes to be “exuberant” rates for his Autolec business on Church Street.
“Commercial rates are already five times what residential rates are,” he said.
“Its going to make it a lot harder for businesses and ultimately the cost will be passed down to the consumer.”
And if the consumer is to pay more, Mr Blanch said it will drive them out of town for better deals, a situation which he said would drastically affect local business.
“Businesses will feel it that’s for sure,” he said.
“How badly it affects them we will have to wait and see.”
To add insult to injury Mr Blanch said he and his wife Alison and three children Beau, Luke and Lily live out of town where they are not eligible for many council services.
“Because we live out of town we don’t get any garbage service so we have to pay for that ourselves,” he said.
“So really the only thing we get out of our rates is road maintenance and they don’t even do that very often.”
Mr Blanch said he doesn't believe a rate rise will fix the issue the town has of a backlog of infrastructure.
“I think you’ll find most of it gets gobbled up by administration fees,” he said.
“What they need to do is campaign harder for more state and federal funding for some of the main arterial roads in and out of Gloucester.
“Its a bit hard to put the burden back on to residents.”