A 4.3 per cent rate rise on the cards

A rate rise of 4.3 per cent is on the cards after Central Coast Council adopted the rate rise to go out on public exhibition at its April 29 meeting.

Councillors did not mention the rate rise or the proposed increase in fees and charges when they adopted the draft operational plan and budget which will now go on public exhibition from Thursday, May 1.

After hearing from the public, the councillors will then make a final decision in June.

While the rate increases for next financial year were not mentioned, the plan to increase rates in 2030 was raised.

Councillor Corinne Lamont asked her fellow councillors to reject the suite of documents which included the Community Strategic Plan, Delivery Program, Operational Plan, Fees and Charges, and both the Workforce and Asset Management Strategies.

Lamont said all the documents were built around Scenario Two in the long term financial plan (LTFP) which assumes Council will keep the temporary rate increase (known as a special rate variation or SRV) imposed for 10 years in 2021.

The 15 per cent SRV is supposed to drop off in 2030 but Council is planning to ask the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) to allow Council to keep it.

“Let’s not endorse plans that assume another SRV as inevitable,” Lamont said.

“Let’s send these back for a version that reflects full exhaustive reform, not deferral.”

Lamont said councillors had not voted on a preferred scenario but most of them had campaigned on no further rate rises.

She said it also ran directly against Council’s Financial Sustainability Strategy, “which clearly states” that Council should reduce its reliance on SRVs to avoid long-term structural imbalances. 

“It also assumes financial stability that, in reality, is being propped up by a future decision from IPART, one that hasn’t happened yet, and may not,” Lamont said.

“And here’s the issue we’re not talking about clearly enough: we are not just facing a one-time funding gap, we are staring down the path of future structural deficits.

“That means, even if we balance the books in the short term, our cost base and service expectations will continue to outpace our income unless we make real changes. 

“Scenario 2 delays that reckoning but it does not solve it.”

She asked if de-amalgamation needed to be “seriously revisited”.

“Our current service footprint, governance complexity, and financial stress raise legitimate questions about whether the amalgamated model is delivering value, or whether it has locked us into a structure that is unsustainable for the long term, making us unfit for purpose, especially long-term purpose,” she said.

Lamont urged residents to speak up during the period of public exhibition.

“Please engage,” she said.

“These plans will shape your roads, your rates, and your services.

“Pay attention, ask questions, let Council and councillors know what you think, because what we’re really debating here is not just a budget, it’s your future cost of living.”

The budget should appear on public exhibition from May 1 at www.yourvoiceourcoast.com/