00:00I don't know what we'll give up but we'll work it out somehow because it has to be paid
00:08because we'll be homeless otherwise.
00:10When retirees Anne and John Gallagher received their council rates in the mail they were
00:15faced with the prospect of foregoing home repairs to pay them.
00:19Well considering we're pensioners still paying a mortgage it's not a good look, a bit worrying
00:24in fact.
00:25We're actually thinking of getting a reverse mortgage.
00:27Balancing their household budget would get harder for these residents of Yass, an hour's
00:31drive from the nation's capital, if the council increased its rates.
00:35You're chasing a tail all the time, and apart from that the local amenities are not up for
00:47scratch.
00:48It's an option the Yass Valley Council is being forced to consider as it looks to get
00:51itself out of millions of dollars of debt.
00:54I think a lot of rural councils would find themselves in the same situation.
00:58So I think what we need to do now is accept we are where we are and we've got a team that
01:03are ready to do the work.
01:05Council rate rises are affecting homeowners across the country as local governments continue
01:10to grapple with worsening staffing and financial challenges.
01:14The key thing that councils are facing at the moment is that construction costs have
01:18really surged over the past few years and for local government the biggest part of their
01:23bills is generally on upgrading, maintaining and building infrastructure.
01:30Over the past two years, dozens of councils have passed on massive rate increases.
01:35Among them, Strathfield Municipal Council by 93% over four years, Queenbeyan-Palaurang
01:41Regional Council by more than 64% across three years and Armadale Regional Council by close
01:48to 59% over three years.
01:51It's an issue disproportionately affecting people in rural Australia where local councils
01:56have fewer ratepayers.
01:57When a regional council is under financial pressure, they either have the opportunity
02:01to raise rates or cut the services that they provide to the community.
02:09And as we've seen, regional communities often are already paying more in rates per person
02:14than their counterparts in major cities.
02:17So increases in rates may simply be unaffordable.
02:20But councils are often left with few options.
02:23The Yass Valley Council has promised not to increase rates this year and is exploring
02:27other ways to rein in its ballooning deficit.
02:30It's something that I believe can be turned around through a number of mechanisms.
02:37For this year what we're doing is looking at some efficiencies.
02:40The Mayor blames the financial troubles on a reduction in federal government support.
02:44The federal government has an obligation to rural councils to reinstate the federal assistant
02:49grants to its 1% level.
02:50That would wipe out our current deficit.
02:53The Federal Minister for Local Government, Christy McBain, did not address restoring
02:57the grant but said the Commonwealth was delivering significant increases to funding to strengthen
03:01the capacity of the sector.
03:02For Yass residents, finger pointing doesn't make the prospect of a rate increase any easier
03:08to bear.
03:09I'm particularly concerned that they're just raising more money to make the same mistakes
03:13because there's been a total lack of transparency about how we got in this mess.
03:19Prices are increasing everywhere, building wages, everything's increasing so I think
03:26that it's not to be unexpected.
03:29From Martin Place to Main Street, interest in rates has never been higher.
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