Victorians struggle to pay rising council rates

Published: September 05, 2008 - 02:09 PM

Council Rates Rise Compared to last year

By Lesley Coombes

Evidence is emerging that more and more Victorian families are struggling to meet basic living costs. This year more than 8,200 Victorians will appear in court for not being able to afford to pay rising council rates, the Herald Sun reported on Saturday.

In the past year, more than 81, 000 Victorians have received rate default notices inflicting a 12 per cent interest charge.

Ratepayers Victoria President, Jack Davies said rates are now “beyond affordability.” The Herald Sun survey found that 1536 people in the City of Casey have been summoned to appear in court as well as more than 500 people in the councils of Melton, Brimbank, Frankston and Cardinia.

The average Victorian resident is seeing a 5.1 per cent increase in their rates bill with the average annual cost being $1200. Some households are even seeing their rates bill double. Those largely affected by the alarming rises in council rates tend to be around the North and South-East Melbourne areas.

The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) is the representative and advocacy body for Victoria’s 79 councils. Cr Dick Gross, MAV President said “Councils are not immune to rising prices and have limited revenue sources to help them absorb cost pressures without it affecting either rates or the level of services provided to communities. Funding the asset renewal gap theoretically requires average rate increases of 12 per cent every year until 2011. While councils would never impose such financial strain on ratepayers, it does mean incremental rate rises are necessary to chip away at the problem.”

David Power of ShopAround.com.au stated that “Victorian households have already been hit with rising living costs. Reassessing and continuing to manage household costs is an important step for Victorians who want to cope with rising council rates. To find cheap electricity and cheap gas, ShopAround.com.au offers Victorians a valuable gas and electricity price comparison service where households can shop around and compare electricity prices and gas prices to find the cheapest gas and electricity available.”

« Back to article list