Rates burden anger: Cut your services, shire told

Alex de Vos
A community group has called on Surf Coast Shire to slash a raft of services to bring its rates under control.
The call to cut services follows an Independent report last month revealing that Surf Coast Shire had the second highest average rates in the state at $1614.
Surf Coast Community and Ratepayers Association’s Lyn Smith demanded the shire dump “a lot of the specialised services”.
She believed that savings from the cuts could help council reduce its “shocking” annual rates hikes.
“The shire has something like 120 services and some of those services could be cut,” Ms Smith said.
“A lot of those services are better provided in Geelong – specialised services like depression and adolescent ones.
“We don’t have a hospital and our population isn’t that big – we can’t expect everything.”
Council and economist Joe Remenyi has invited residents to inform the shire “of services or council activities that must be maintained and those that could be cut or scaled back”.
In a letter to a newspaper, he suggested rates could be “contained, if not reversed”.
“It would be great if future rates in the shire could be cut but this is unlikely unless serious cost savings or alternative revenue sources are identified,” Cr Remenyi said in the letter.
“Councillors are committed to working with officers to ensure that ratepayers get value for their rates.
“Ratepayers and residents can contribute by communicating their views and ideas.”
Mayor Libby Cr Mears said the shire had no “immediate plans to change service levels”.
“Council is committed to responding to community needs by providing the range and level of services our community requires,” Cr Mears said.
In last month’s rates story she blamed higher levels of government for forcing council to lift rates.
Cr Mears said the shire was “heavily penalised” with an unfair share of government grants despite ranking as one of the state’s fastest-growing municipalities.
“Our rate increase was 5.75 per cent (this financial year) when a five per cent rate increase is needed for us to stand still as far as providing services goes,” Cr Mears said.