Yass Valley council considering making a major rate rise

Residents in the Yass region could be slugged with a significant rate rise as the council tries to claw back millions of dollars.

Transcript

00:00Wool, wine, waterways and worried residents. In Yass, a potential major rate rise is on

00:09the horizon.

00:10I think it's a disgrace, quite frankly, because, you know, people are having it tough.

00:15I'm on maternity leave and I am really worried about how it's going to impact our cost of

00:21living already is quite high.

00:22It didn't come as a real shock because they're spending a fair bit of money and I don't

00:28think they've got a lot of money at the moment.

00:29Grappling with a multi-million dollar deficit, councillors held an extraordinary meeting

00:35late today, considering three rate hike options ranging from 40% over a year to 58% over three

00:43years.

00:44It means an extra $5.2 million for the Yass Valley Council, so that means real tangible improvements

00:49to our roads, to our buildings, to stormwater infrastructure.

00:52The proposed changes would add hundreds of dollars onto the average residential rates

00:57bill and thousands for farms and businesses, leaving a bitter aftertaste.

01:02Realistically, for us, what it's going to mean is we're going to need to just keep pulling

01:06our prices up as well, which then flows onto our customer base.

01:11Council's got a lot of different levers and I think they should pull all of those levers

01:15before they just rush to an increase of taxes and contribute to that inflationary cycle.

01:20Local governments argue the current rate peg isn't keeping up with inflation.

01:26In 2023, the Queanbeyan-Palarang Regional Council was permitted to raise rates by 18% a year

01:33for three years.

01:34I think it's really important to highlight that 76% of councils have gone through a special

01:38rate variation since 2011.

01:41It means that we're going to have to tighten our belts like everyone else.

01:45After hours of debate, Yass Valley Council voted to defer a decision about the rate hike until

01:51March.