WYNDHAM Council should consider a rebate for landowners in the urban growth zone if it is concerned about rising rates, says the state government.
As reported by the Weekly, residents in Wyndham’s north could face rates rises of up to 10 per cent after new regulations banned councils from applying differentials to urban growth zone properties without an approved precinct structure plan. Council chief executive Kerry Thompson said the changes meant the council would have to remove a differential which levied urban growth properties at 10 per cent less than residential developed land. She accused the government of developing guidelines which would have an adverse financial impact on ratepayers.
Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell hit back at suggestions ratepayers will be worse off under the new guidelines, saying councils would still be able to provide a rates discount to growth zone landowners or defer their payments.
“A council wanting to apply a discount to properties in the urban growth zone should use other tools, such as a rebate, rather than a differential rate,” Ms Powell said.
She said the guidelines were developed to prevent councils from charging higher rates in the urban growth zone before areas were approved for development.
Tarneit ratepayer Joe Magro called on the council to let ratepayers know how the new guidelines would impact on their rates. “We believed that the intention [of the guidelines] was to control councils from increasing rates by drastic amounts. If this is the intent of the guidelines, it appears that council is simply changing the rules. Increasing our rates by up to 10 per cent would be an absolute disgrace given that our rates rose by over 100 per cent last year.”
Ms Thompson said the council was yet to determine what impact the guidelines would have on next year’s budget.
