Waste charge reduction for 16,000 Noosa ratepayers
Noosa Council today adopted its $116M 2017/2018 budget.
Mayor Tony Wellington said the minimum general rate would rise by 2% in-keeping with CPI.
“But not everyone will experience a 2% rise in their overall bill,” he said. “Thanks to the new waste contract, the actual cost of servicing the existing general waste and recycling bins has reduced. This saving is thus passed on to our customers. As a result, many ratepayers will experience an increase in rates, levies and charges of less than 2% compared with last year.
“Those 5,000 properties that already receive a garden waste recycling service will find their overall bill from Council is just 0.4% higher than last year. That’s because the cost of the three-bin service will drop from $340 to $315 in 2017/18.
“Furthermore, 11,000 rural property and unit owners who are exempt from receiving the new garden waste bin service will find that their total bill increases by just 1.5%.
“For 10,000 ratepayers set to receive the garden waste bin service for the first time, the waste charge will increase by $40. Although for these ratepayers the waste charge will go up on account of the additional bin, the cost of their existing recycling and general waste bin services has come down, and those savings have been factored in. In the end, these ratepayers will find their total rates and charges increase by 5.1% as compared with last year.
“Almost half the waste currently going into our landfill is green waste, particularly garden waste. We need to deal with this problem, as rotting vegetation in the landfill accounts for the vast majority of Council’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing material going to landfill is a long-term cost saving as well.”
The Environment Levy will stay at $60, and the Heritage Levy at $10, but the Transport Levy, to become the Sustainable Transport Levy, will increase from $20 to $30 per year.
Mayor Wellington said Council was pleased to keep the minimum general rate increase close to CPI.
"The Australian CPI for the March quarter was 2.1%. Although we are adding additional resources and functions to Council’s operations, we have managed to keep the minimum general rate rise to 2%.
"We need to keep up with inflation in terms of our own costs in order to keep delivering the same level of service year after year. To fail to do so would mean diminishing service levels.
“For 16,000 ratepayers, however, the overall increase, including levies and waste charges, in 2017/18 will be 1.5% or less.”
29 June 2017