It could be the start of a new era in the Southern Downs, with a remodelled rating system proposed for operation in the 2024-25 budget, which is now at the community consultation stage prior to finalisation.
The Southern Downs Regional Council mayor Melissa Hamilton said the new differential general rate structure was created following the engagement of a local government rating specialist, the AEC Group, to undertake a rating review which she said was long overdue.
“The previous review occurred in 2012 following amalgamation,” she said.
She said the 2023 review highlighted that compared to similar benchmarked councils, the Southern Downs’ residential and rural ratepayers were carrying a greater proportion of the rates burden compared to the commercial and industrial sector.
“The new proposed rates system aims to rebalance this to create a fairer and more equitable rates system in the Southern Downs,” Cr Hamilton said.
Residential properties will now be categorised based on rateable valuation rather than water access and lot size. Cr Hamilton said the key focus of the council was to balance the cost-of-living pressures to the residential community while attracting new investment in the region’s commercial and industrial base.
Three quarters of households would not see an increase in their general rates and there would be no change to the residential general minimum rate under the new system, she said.
The majority of significant rate increases resulting from the rate review would be phased in with the help of rate caps to smooth the increases over a number of years. Any rate reductions resulting from the review would be passed on in full in the coming financial year.
