Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire looks for community feedback as 7.5 per cent rate increase proposed for 2024-25

The Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes has proposed a 7.5 per cent increase in residents’ rates as they seek community feedback on the proposal. The council voted at last week’s meeting to put the planned 2024-25 rise out for public comment before making a final decision. The rate rise has been based on increases in expenses, including a 4.6 per cent growth in staff wages, a 0.5 per cent increase in compulsory superannuation contributions and an 8.5 per cent rise in insurance premiums. If implemented, minimum payments on properties rated by gross rental value will rise from $1112 to $1195, while the minimum for rural unimproved value properties would increase from $1378 to $1481. Shire president Jenny Mountford said the information going out for community submissions would include background data about how the increases had been determined and how the shire’s costs have increased. “We’ll be advertising for public comment and people can go online and put a submission to the shire on what we’ll put out,” she said. “(The council) look at all submissions and then we determine what the set rate will be. “It’s what we’re putting out there and what we’re thinking of roughly, and we want to see what the community is feeling about that.” She said the council received a recommendation from chief executive and shire staff about the modelling of the rate rise. “To be financially responsible, we were advised by the CEO that we’d need a 6 per cent increase to meet the bare minimum of what our costs are,” Cr Mountford said. She said she understood the strain it would put on ratepayers but hoped they would understand costs had increased for everyone. “The only reason we put up rates is because things cost us more. We don’t want to do it just for the sake of doing it,” Cr Mountford said. “I understand any rise is hard for everybody, but I think everybody understands everything has gone up for everyone, and governments aren’t immune from that.” Questions were raised at the meeting about the 4.6 per cent increase in staff salaries and wages, which Cr Mountford said was to keep them in line with current regulations. “I believe some staff were under what they should have been and (the increase is) just within regulations of what the shire needs to do,” she said. Cr Mountford said it was important for residents and ratepayers to make their opinion regarding the rates known. “Have your voice. Make a submission. Call councillors,” she said. “Also, at the end of the day, the shire also offers payment arrangements to make it easier, and you can actually make arrangements to do it more frequently and that makes it more manageable.”