INDEPENDENT MP Troy Bell has renewed calls to change state legislation and exclude councils from subsidising community housing.
The Member for Mount Gambier backed the recently released Local Government Association South Australia state budget submission, which calls on the State Government to reduce cost shifting.
Earlier this year, Mr Bell forewarned Mount Gambier ratepayers could foot a $820,000 council rate bill if the city’s Housing Trust stock was offloaded to community housing providers by the State Government.
The previous State Government started the transfer of management of Housing Trust properties to the community housing sector.
Upon transfer of the houses, the State Government is no longer required to support their maintenance, with properties becoming eligible for Commonwealth funding.
Under state legislation, community housing providers are entitled to a 75pc rebate on council rates on the grounds they are a community service.
While supportive of the transfer of state-owned housing stock to the not-for-profit sector, Mr Bell said he did not believe it was council’s responsibility to wear the financial impact.
“We have more than 1200 Housing Trust homes in Mount Gambier and if you do the math, that means a $820,000 bill for the City of Mount Gambier – a huge reduction in revenue for a regional council,” he said.
“The rate payers of Mount Gambier will ultimately be the losers on this issue as council is either forced to recoup costs through rates or cut services.
“Councils are still recovering from the NRM Levy collection farce and to ask them to carry this additional financial burden is unfair.
“There is an opportunity ahead in the state budget for the State Government to make good on its election promise and take back some of these costs from councils.”
According to the Local Government Association South Australia, the approximate revenue loss across the 17 impacted councils is $4.4m for every 5000 properties transferred.
The association estimates the transfer of an expected 12,000 would increase the rating burden on impacted local communities by around $10m each year.
Ahead of the state election, Mr Bell pledged to introduce legislation to address the issue.
“An issue I feel strongly about is reducing the cost of living for everyday South Australians,” he said.
“An amendment to the Local Government Act to ensure ratepayers are not impacted from this decision should be on the State Government’s agenda and I will continue to campaign on this issue.”
