Rate cap tightens Council’s purse strings
By Lachlan Ellis
“I think Government needs to stop looking in the mirror, and look out the window.”
– Cr Paul Tatchell
An announcement by the State Government of a 1.75 per cent rate cap for the 2022/23 financial year, will have Council thinking about how to provide services “more efficiently”, according to the Moorabool Mayor Tom Sullivan.
The current rate cap of 1.5 per cent is the lowest since the Fair Go Rates System began in 2016, and the State Government says the 0.25 per cent increase will “help ease cost of living pressures for Victorians”.
The rate cap is not a guarantee of how much rates will rise – it’s impossible to know exactly how much it may affect individual ratepayers until the State Government does property valuations, and differential rates are set by Council.
However, Mayor Cr Tom Sullivan said the rate cap would have a significant effect on how Council plans its next budget.
“It certainly has to have an impact in our revenue, it’s a global increase of 1.75 per cent on our total rate take from the previous year. We’ve lived with this system for a number of years now, so we’re virtually having to cut our cloth and find savings where we can,” he told the Moorabool News.
“Having that imposed upon us does make us focus on savings we can achieve, or how we can be more efficient in our delivery of services. That’s not always so much saving dollars, but more to do with getting more out of the dollars you’ve got.”
Central Ward Councillor Paul Tatchell has opposed the Fair Go Rates System since it was introduced.
To read the full story – Simply click on the following link
https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-01-25/6
in the 25 January 2022 edition
OR
pick up a paper around your town.