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23 June 2021
The entire June 23, 2021 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!
A group of rural ratepayers is planning to gather at a Horsham Rural City Council meeting on Monday night to protest over a rating plan for the municipality.
Victorian Farmers Federation Wimmera branch president Graeme Maher of Lubeck confirmed members of the group were organising a show of solidarity as part of a ‘fairer rates deal’.
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“The present rating system needs restructuring and we can’t help but worry that farmers and landholders are carrying a larger and larger rates burden that is ultimately unsustainable,” he said.
“We believe we must make our position clear, especially when it comes to the present rating systems, not only for the benefit of our members, but the broader community.
“That has always been our argument. The whole system puts an unrealistic burden on all ratepayers. We are seen as the group that is always agitating, but perhaps others should also put their voice to this argument.
“What has us particularly concerned is the extraordinary capital gain in housing and land values, the impact of subsequent ratings without matching services and how people are finding themselves seriously overburdened. It raises financial risks across the regions.”
Mr Maher said a rating system capped by State Government intervention kept control of the overall rates, but getting the balance in sharing the burden right was essential.
“The key in all this – for so many years – is that the system is fundamentally flawed and needs a serious overhaul. That’s been our argument all along,” he said.
“We just have to keep working at. It’s not right, and it needs fixing.”
The VFF Wimmera, in a submission to the Horsham council, has argued that a proposed budget placed more burden on the farming sector.
It has urged the council to investigate a ‘dynamic’ rating system that looked beyond simple valuations to determine sector rate burdens.
It has welcomed a council increase spend on rural infrastructure based on the investment continuing, but is against a reduction of a municipal charge from $274 to $240.
It has also declared support for the State Government’s Fair Go Rates System and supports an annual lump-sum payment option in February.
It ‘completely’ rejects a notion that rates be referred to as a ‘wealth’ tax and instead propose the section be called a ‘property’ tax.
The council draft budget, which accepted submissions up until June 7, showed Horsham ratepayers overall faced a 1.5 percent rate rise as per a ministerial cap and a farm-differential or rates reduction of 67 percent of property value to 59 percent.
But a 27.42 percent rise in farm values in the past 12 months, regardless of the farm-differential adjustment, means average farm-rate contributions in the municipality will rise by 10.65 percent.
The Victorian local government rating system and how best to balance rate-paying responsibilities between sectors that involve urban, rural, business and industry, especially in rural and regional areas, has been the subject of intense debate for decades.
Many arguments are based on a subjective analysis of what is ‘fair and equitable’ when reflecting on property values compared with service provision.
