Mr Brazier Hollins (letters August 15 “Rate hike”) is right to be concerned. Apart from increased landfill fees up by over 25% this year, ratepayers have now received a letter (dated July 19) from Armidale Dumaresq Council suggesting we should agree to a 9% general rates variation over three years to cover “general fund asset depreciation expense” of “on average $1.8M annually”.
A variation like this requires special approval from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART). IPART will not approve unless we, the community support such a request.
My enquiries on this issue some months ago at Parliament House (NSW) informed me that the IPART process is designed to allow a community that has a special project in mind, (for example a new arts centre or sports facility) to temporarily vary (usually by increasing) its rates to pay for the project. Hence the need for community support and IPART approval.
It’s an interesting suggestion to put “asset deterioration” into the category of such a special project. It gives rise to the question as to how this has been allowed to happen. Is there a long term issue with neglect of our assets? Such “variations” of rates and increases in special fees and charges hit business and household budgets hard. They make our city and farmland unattractive to newcomers. They depress property sales.
I want to assure Armidale Dumaresq ratepayers that if elected on September 8, I will make this proposal and the overall transparency of the way our rates are spent, a priority matter for questioning and public consultation.
Vote 1, ‘Group C’ on election day.
Margaret O’Connor,
Group C
Liberal Party
