By Jeremy Cook
Public consultation on the Southern Downs council’s draft budget has closed and will be reviewed ahead of its final unveiling later this month.
A spokeswoman for Southern Downs Regional Council said submissions, which closed on Friday, will be collated and “presented to [the] council for review at an information session” on 10 July.
The final budget is expected to then be presented to councillors for adoption at a special council meeting on 24 July.
Upon release, this year’s draft budget measures included a restructured rates system which Mayor Melissa Hamilton said were designed to be “fairer and more equitable”.
Under the proposed measures, general rate rises would be limited to 2.5 per cent on average and would not increase for three quarters of households.
The residential rates schedule was re-categorised to include classifications for higher density housing like flats and unit blocks as well retirement homes and lifestyle villages.
Rating categories for agricultural properties have also been reworked.
Categories for “small crops and fodder” and “orchards and vineyards” have been scrapped and “horticultural farming” added, while “agricultural farming” will be reworked to exclude properties defined in a new “Intensive Animal Industries Sub-Group”.
Under that sub-group, separate ratings have been drawn up for cattle feedlots, piggeries, poultry farms and hatcheries as well as private forestry under that sub-group.
For ratepayers who remain in the “agricultural farming” category, rates will increase by an average of 5.74 per cent compared to the previous system.
Other proposed changes included recategorising commercial and industrial rates into one category.
Significant rate rises resulting from the restructure will be phased in using rate caps which range from 10 per cent to 50 per cent in residential categories and 10 per cent to 700 per cent in rural categories.
Any rate reductions resulting from the reworked system will be passed on in full next in the coming financial year.
