By JESSE GRAHAM
TWO Yarra Ranges councillors have failed in an 11th hour bid to lower rate rises to bring them in line with inflation.
The move came at the council’s 24 June meeting at which councillors were considering the budget for the coming financial year.
However, other councillors lambasted their colleagues for jeopardising the shire’s infrastructure development and for making the comments at the last minute.
Councillors Andy Witlox and Len Cox both hesitated to support the budget for the coming year because of the rising cost of living, particularly in the aftermath of a harsh Federal budget.
Cr Cox said the government was “jacking up charges across the board to people who can’t afford it”, and that rising council rates would also impact these people.
“We can’t control what the two other levels of government do, but we can control what we do,” he said.
Cr Witlox agreed with Cr Cox and both of the councillors agreed that council rate rises should be at the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate, which is currently 2.9 per cent.
“I really believe that’s what we should be doing for next year and for the next two years – it’s about 2 per cent less than what we’re looking at,” Cr Cox.
“That’s about $2 million for the year – I have no doubt that we can reduce our spending by that much.”
However, this view was contested by other councillors who said that changing rate rises from the current steady rise of 4.8 per cent each year would affect infrastructure.
Jason Callanan said that infrastructure in the shire would be “severely affected” by reducing rate rises, while Jim Child said the rate rises allowed for extensive capital works to take place.
Terry Avery backed Cr Callanan and Cr Child, and said that rate rises were part of the council’s plan.
“We have to stick to the plan,” he said.
“It’s not always pretty, but we have to stick to it.”
Yarra Ranges Mayor Fiona McAllister said at the meeting that she was frustrated by the last-minute discussion.
“We started these discussions in November last year – I remember having a fairly strong voice on this issue at the time,” she said.
“If these are the feelings around the table, they (should be) heard when we start next time.
“To raise these issues after this huge body of work has been completed is really disappointing.”
Cr McAllister said that, while she does support lower rate rises, it would be impossible to change the details of the budget six days out from the end of the financial year.
All levels of government are required to pass their budget for the coming financial year before 30 June of the previous financial year to ensure there is money allocated to running the government.
The Yarra Ranges Council budget, along with the council’s Long Term Financial Plan and Council Plan 2013-2017 (2014 Update) was ultimately adopted by a majority vote.
