MidCoast Council will know this Friday if it can increase rates to provide extra funds to fix its infrastructure backlog, maintain assets and support its environmental program.
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Council is preparing to hold an extraordinary meeting on July 21 to enable it to adopt its requested Special Rate Variation (SRV) if approved by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), according to a council spokesperson.
Earlier this year, NSW Parliament voted to provide rate protection for residents in merged council areas for four years – however, MidCoast Council was the only merged council of the 20 new councils to secure an exemption from the four year rate path protection.
At that time, Member for Myall Lakes Stephen Bromhead spoke in the parliamentary chamber about the need for a rate rise and said a 20 per cent rate rise in the MidCoast Council area would have “no adverse impact”. He argued that “people who are concerned about potential rate rises must consider the tremendous need in this area.”
“The merged area has a population of more than 90,000 people. It covers more than 10,000 square kilometres and has 190 kilometres of coastline, 3574 kilometres of road and 542 bridges—of which 195 are timber. The maintenance backlog for roads and bridges is estimated to cost something like $200 million. That backlog must be addressed.” Click here to learn more about Mr Bromhead’s address to NSW Parliament.
MidCoast Council’s exemption from the Local Government Amendment (Rates – Merged Council Areas) Bill 2017 enabled it to submit its application for a SRV to IPART in June. It needs a green light from IPART to increase its general income above the rate peg over the four year period 2017-18 to 2020-2021 and proposes a cumulative increase of 28.5 per cent over the four years. If approved by IPART it will see annual increases of 11 per cent in 2017-18, 5 per cent in 2018-19, 5 per cent in 2019-20 and 5 per cent in 2020-21. The rate peg for 2017-18 is set at 1.5 per cent.
The amalgamation of Greater Taree, Gloucester and Great Lakes councils resulted in a review of asset data for sealed roads and bridges from the three former councils and according to MidCoast Council, it highlighted an annual shortfall of $5 million for funding depreciation of our roads and bridges, and a $180 million backlog of works.
Community consultation is a requirement of council’s application to IPART and council says that during community consultation in October and November last year, the community provided feedback on the proposed SRV and was “quite clear in acknowledging that something needs to be done”, further stating that “over 75 per cent of people completing the survey at that time supported a SRV at the proposed level or slightly lower, demonstrating a good understanding of our current situation.”