Media Release: West Tamar Council 2022/2023 Rates Set

Wednesday, 15 June 2022

SUBJECT:

West Tamar Council 2022/2023 Rate Set

FROM:

Mayor, Christina Holmdahl

DATE:

Wednesday 15th June 2022

The West Tamar Council understands that inflation is effecting our community, with the cost of living rising, we understand that people are experiencing varying degrees of financial hardship.

Council has considered this along with the increase in waste costs due to the introduction of a landfill levy, recycling processing costs tripling over five years, the priorities Council has set in our long term plans, no increases applied in 2020/2021 due to the COVID pandemic, statutory obligations, an expected change in costs of goods and services, and the needs and expectations of the community.

At our June 2022 Council meeting, we passed a general rate increase of 3.9%, which is accompanied by a waste charge depending on the size of the bin, and the Fire Levy which we collect on behalf of the State Government. Overall the increase equates to approximately $1.90 per property per week.

Mayor Christina Holmdahl said that Council has carefully considered what the right balance was to provide the best possible value for money without putting unnecessary strain on our community members.

“Council isn’t a price setter, it’s a price taker and it charges what is necessary to provide the services that our community expects. It’s a delicate balance to get that right,” Mayor Holmdahl said.

“Council has a long history of budgeted surpluses, the budgeting of an underlying deficit has not come lightly as Council deals with impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as rising expenditures,” Mayor Holmdahl said. “Estimates for the 2022/23 financial year include a budgeted net-deficit of $25,000 and an underlying deficit of $0.5m excluding capital grants, with Council intending to raise $22.3m in rates. In preparing the estimates, Council continues to balance the demands for services, the operating costs of facilities and the need to deliver appropriate rating outcomes for the whole community.”