Central Coast Council has joined with other councils across the state in calling for the NSW Government to restore Emergency Services Levy (ESL) subsidies amid fears a significant increase in the levy will have a severe impact on community services.
The ESL is a cost imposed on councils and the insurance industry to fund the emergency services budget in NSW, which is set by the State Government.
The majority is paid as part of insurance premiums, with a further 11.7 per cent picked up by councils and 14.6 per cent by State Government itself.
With massive rises in emergency services budgets, including a 73 per cent increase in the budget allocation to the State Emergency Services (SES), councils are facing huge increases in their share of the levy.
A Central Coast Council spokesperson said the levy increase would have a severe impact on the ability of many councils to serve the community.
“Councils are currently required to cover 11.7 per cent of the total cost of the ESL, but at the same time have their revenue capped by the NSW Government (at 3.8 per cent for Central Coast Council in 2023/2024).
“However, Central Coast Council’s increase in the ESL is 57 per cent.
“For many councils the increase proposed by the government would be more than their total rate indexation under the current rate cap.
“For Central Coast Council, while the ESL increase would not exceed Council’s total rate indexation, it significantly reduces funding for core Council services and puts additional pressure on Council’s already constrained budget.
“It is not reasonable for a government on one hand to cap local government income, and on the other hand increase one of its largest costs by around 15 times this cap.
“In line with Local Government NSW (LGNSW), Council calls for the NSW Government in the short term to restore the ESL subsidy for 2023/2024 and allow councils to raise this payment on top of the rate cap, and in the longer term, develop a fairer, more transparent and financially sustainable method of funding the critically important emergency services which benefit us all.”
President of Local Government NSW Darriea Turley said she had held “cordial but forthright talks” with Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig, Treasurer Daniel Moohkey and Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib in recent weeks.
“All three acknowledge the levy increase will hit some councils extremely hard and are of the view that a new funding model needs to be devised going forward,” she said.
“The surprise increase in the Emergency Services Levy imposed by the State Government onto councils will undoubtedly lead to service cutback and job losses in some local government areas.
“We remain hopeful that the new NSW Government will change course on this nonsensical position, which seeks to dump depreciation costs for state assets onto council books to make state government budgets look better.
“We are looking forward to working with the Government in a spirit of co-operation and collaboration, and I have written to Minister Hoenig to offer a briefing on the financial challenges faced by local government.”
Terry Collins