Two-course rates rise. Can you stomach it?

What does it mean for me?

We can write about the procedure, the community consultation, the feedback and debate. But really what it boils down to is - How much extra am I going to be paying? Can I afford it? What will we lose as a result?

Our dollars are hard-earned and the demands on your wallet these days are relentless.

It's quite understandable that we want clarity around what our rates are funding, and how much more we're being asked to fork over to council.

I own a three-bedroom house in Bega (well, the bank does), a nice older home on a great town block.

For this privilege of owning a piece of Far South Coast paradise, the council charged me $3007 in rates and fees for the current financial year.

Thank goodness the discussions over a special rate variation don't apply to that total figure, otherwise I'd be screwed. As I'm sure many of you readers would be as well.

A 90% increase? Forget about it.

Grab your most recent annual rates and charges notice. The key ones in this SRV discussion are the top two line items - Residential and Residential Base Rate (or Business/Farmland as the case may be).

The proposed rise only applies to those two figures (for me that's a base rate of $536, and a land value x ad valorem calculation of $308).

That's not to say the remaining fees and charges won't also rise in years to come - in fact that's almost guaranteed. However, I'm sticking to what's known for now and what we can calculate today.

A 24% increase as of July 2023 - well that's $202.56 - roughly $3.90 a week.

Yours will be higher or lower dependent on your land value (which by the way is also set to shift given the Valuer General's report released this month).

A further 21% as of July 2024 I can only assume will be a similar amount added on again given we don't yet know what the rate peg increase will be, nor the new land values.

For argument's sake, let's say $8 a week total on top of what I'm already paying.

Can we afford that? Only time will tell I guess.

But what we will also want to know - sooner rather than later - is what council services are going to have to be cut given this SRV plan is already known to not be nearly enough to maintain and upgrade current assets, let alone pay for anything new we might need in the next 10 years.

As always, let me know your thoughts. I'm always keen to share your letters to the editor and gauge what decisions like this mean for you and your community.

- Ben Smyth, ACM Editor Far South Coast