Beaches residents voted for an 11% rate rise. Their council is considering 40%
Furious residents are planning a protest at Tuesday’s meeting of the Northern Beaches Council after staff proposed an almost 40 per cent rate rise, despite the results of a community survey which showed the majority of ratepayers favoured a smaller increase.
A contingent of residents on the Northern Beaches Peoples Voice Facebook group and at street-side rallies throughout the LGA has criticised perceived waste in the council’s administration of community services, the salaries and headcount of council staff, and a council report’s assertion that residents could afford a 39.6 per cent rate rise.
Northern Beaches residents could soon be fit with a 40 per cent rate rise. Credit: Nick Moir
After years of strain on the council’s coffers, blamed on the COVID pandemic, ageing infrastructure and natural disasters, a survey ordered by the council found that 51 per cent of residents supported a pegged rise of 10.7 per cent, while 49 per cent backed an extraordinary rate rise of between 31.1 per cent and 46 per cent over three years.
Following the survey, council staff recommended a rise of 39.6 per cent, an option voted for by 11 per cent of respondents, based on a need “to maintain financial sustainability” and continue delivering the services that almost all respondents supported. The report also said with the rise costing the average resident an extra $12.89 per week by the end of the three years, ratepayers could shoulder the cost.
In response, members of the community group have picketed street corners and will be holding a rally at the council chambers before Tuesday’s meeting. Administrators of the group were contacted for comment.
The rise comes after years of significant pressure on the council’s budget, with a $41 million fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as payments of $15 million for natural disaster relief, and the proposed responsibility to offer parking permits to renters, which Mayor Sue Heins claims would cost $500,000.
Heins said the online campaign against the rate rise amounted to “misinformation”, and she felt “disappointment” at the tone of the debate.
“That’s really the conundrum of all councils because that’s what every council tries to do, balance the many requests that come in for new services and infrastructure. There’s only a finite amount of money, so when you are faced with huge inflation and other costs, it’s just really challenging.”
