Wyndham residents will have to fork out to have snakes removed from their properties from next year.
The council has voted to scrap its free snake removal service from next month.
It will hire a professional catcher as needed for one year and introduce a user-pays system from September, 2016.
From then, residents will face an average call-out fee of $150 to locate and remove snakes.
The council will still pay for a professional to remove snakes from council land if there is an immediate risk to the public, such as in schools and playgrounds.
A council report said requests to remove snakes from private properties had risen from 115 in the 2012-13 snake season (September-April) to 163 in 2013-14.
The report attributed the rise to new housing estates encroaching on existing snake habitats and the creation of lakes near residential developments.
Cr Marie Brittan said she was concerned that once the new user-pays system was in place, there would be an increase in snake bites as residents tried to catch snakes themselves instead of leaving them alone or paying for professionals.
“I’d like to see the council continue [the professional catcher] program for more than one year,” she said.
Fellow councillors Intaj Khan and Bob Fairclough agreed with Cr Brittan.
Cr Heather Marcus was the only one to vote against the changes.
“This is a service we should be keeping in this city,” Cr Marcus said.
“We’re encroaching on the snakes’ habitats. We’ve had problems at kindergartens and problems with snakes coming through people’s backyards.
“I think for the amount of money [saved] we could get rid of plenty of other things before we get rid of this.”
