Aidan Curtis
DISTRICT Council of Grant (DCG) is looking for community feedback on its draft Annual Business Plan and Budget.
The draft budget has proposed to increase residential rates by 7.6 per cent, which DCG director corporate services Gary Button said comes off the back of rising costs for council.
“As we all know, cost of living impacts on businesses and council as well,“ Mr Button said.
“With the 7.6 per cent rate increase, council has had to consider our rising costs in particular in important areas.
“Fuel has been quite significant, electricity costs, we came off a three-year local government-wide contract with energy suppliers, and that increased by between 200 and 300 per cent in January.“
Mr Button said while that might put more stress on residents at face value, a proposed 15 to 20 per cent decrease in the rate in the dollar means residents might not be overly affected.
“We’re looking to reduce the rate in the dollar across most of our rate categories between 15 and 20 per cent to try and offset those valuation increases,“ he said.
“So for a residential property owner, there will be plenty paying the same level of rates as last year, some may even pay a little bit less because of the reduction in the rate in the dollar if their valuation didn’t change.
“An average residential ratepayer would pay around about $50 more, and for a farming enterprise per assessable property, that could be somewhere between $270 to $280.“
Mr Button said primary producers will likely have to pay a little bit more after Covid measures capped their rates over the last three years or so to minimise the impacts of property valuation increases.
Despite the removal of rate capping, he said primary producers would benefit in the long run as the money would go towards upgrading the saleyards.
“The saleyards generate over $160 million worth of economic activity for our area, so anything we can do that value adds to our saleyards facility will certainly benefit our community in general and have a direct benefit to our primary producers,“ he said.
“We do understand the impact, we know that no one will be isolated from these changes we’re looking to bring in for next year’s budget.
“Our viewpoint is if we delay certain projects and put off projects and services, all we’re doing is pushing it back one or two years, costs will continue to increase and it’s only going to cost us more in the long run.“
Mr Button said the important thing to remember is that it is a draft budget and he encouraged residents in the council area to provide as much feedback as possible to help shape the next year of spending.
“We welcome people to get online, email us, come into the office to pick up a paper copy, have a look at it and let us know their thoughts,“ he said.
“We want as many people as possible coming back to council to help administration and the elected members put together a really good document going forward.“
Public consultation on the draft budget is open until 5pm on Friday, June 9.
People can have their say online at https://www.dcgrant.sa.gov.au/council/latest-news/your-say-dcg or by contacting council.
