City’s budget gets okay

CITY of Ballarat councillors have adopted the 2021-22 municipal budget, and a new revenue and rating plan during a marathon three-and-a-half-hour online council meeting last week.

After a freeze on rate increases last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, council voted in favour of a State-capped 1.5 per cent rate increase.

Mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said “The draft revenue and rating plan proposes an appropriate and affordable approach to rates and other charges over our four-year term.”

Cr Ben Taylor intended to vote against the budget and rate rise but a technical difficulty saw him miss the chance.

Given leave to speak after the vote, Cr Taylor said “As much as I think the budget as a whole is fantastic in what it’s been delivering, the question it comes down to though is why do we always go to the maximum 1.5 [per cent rate increase]?

“It shouldn’t just be a given that we just go straight to the maximum.”

A predicted municipal income of $267.5 million, and expenditure of $199.8 million, leaves a projected operating surplus of around $67.7 million.

With a focus on pandemic recovery, the budget also allocates $130.9 million to capital projects and $72.8 million to paying staff.

Waste management charges are up by 14.75 per cent or around $52 to a total $416 per property and City of Ballarat CEO Evan King said this was due to increases in waste collection costs and a significant increase in the Environmental Protection Agency levy.

Commercial and industrial rates, however, are set to decrease over the next four years to bring the municipality into line, and competition, with its neighbours.

As such, residential, rural residential and farm properties are set to take on a greater proportion of the rate burden.