Newcastle council's rate rise not as bad as first thought

BY JESSICA ROUSE

The rate increase confirmed for residents at last night's Newcastle City Council meeting may not be as bad as it seems.

What was initially said to be a 8 per cent rate rise, will actually be more like 7.2 per cent because council say they haven't increased the waste domestic surcharge which pays for weekly garbage collection for residents.

Lord Mayor of Newcastle Nuatali Nelmes says it really shouldn't come as a surprise to ratepayers as it had already been approved by iPart.

"The amounts of rates on people's rates notice won't seem as much because at the city of Newcastle we're keeping our costs and our overheads low in regards to our domestic waste service that people obviously rely on. We're keeping that charge fixed s we did last year as well, so we haven't increased our domestic waste service charge."

The increase will work out to be around $100 per annum per household over five years.

"This is the same decision that council made back in 2014 and that was approved by iPart. We are doing the special rate variation over five years at the City of Newcastle as is neighbouring councils. This isn't a new decision, this is a decision that was made by iPart back several years go and is part of our normal budget," said Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes.

Newcastle Council also confirmed at last night's meeting that they will be putting money towards the revamp of Newcastle Art Gallery after a plea for funds from the state government was knocked back.

Some funds will likely come from proceeds of the 2012 special rate variation.

"The most significant investment in arts and culture in this city year on, year out, is Newcastle City Council and we'll be continuing to press the state government to pay their fair share of an art gallery redevelopment considering the hundred of millions of dollars they're putting into cultural projects in Sydney," said Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes.

Newcastle City Council Rating Well

BY BRIDGET GUNN

Newcastle City Council is on track to have a surplus of $5.4 million in the 2016 and 2017 financial year.

This will mean the Council should clear its backlog of infrastructure by 2020.

This surplus is a result of councils decision in 2014 to increase rates by almost fifty percent, which has seen rates increase by more than $500.

Maitland Residents Invited to Talk About Rates

Maitland City Council is hoping to meet with residents to discuss future funding options.
 
Council is running seven drop-in sessions over the week so residents a chance to give feedback about the Council’s proposed rate increases.
 
General Manager, David Evans, says residents have already indicated support for rate increases to ensure current services. Mr Evans said rate revenue was council’s “largest single income stream.”
 
“There are two suggested increases one of 7.25% increase per year and one of 8.95% increase per year," Mr Evans said, "the two range between about at $86 a year increase for the 7.25% increase and about $106 a year increase for the higher one."
 
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) approved increases of around 3% to 3.2% a year.
 
“If Council does nothing but continue with the allowable increases approved by IPART each year, we would accumulate a deficit of over $92 million”, said Mr Evans.
 
The drop-in sessions follow on from Council’s rates survey released earlier this year.
 
The first session is tonight 5.30 ‘til 7.30 tonight at East Maitland Library.
 
More information can be found at maitlandyoursay.com