THE BIG SQUEEZE AND YOUR RATES!
Over the last three years and projected into the following year (2005) the State Government has reduced Grants to local Government by $102 million per annum. (A per annum reduction of over 20%) This is at the same time as the State Government has received windfall revenue from stamp duty, gambling revenue, the G.S.T., and Federal Government grants to Victoria that have increased by $3.2 billion, or 15 per cent, to $13.7 billion next year (2005), to name just a few revenue sources. Local government would have been allocated $600 million from the State Government next year if the State increased its allocation by a comparable rate to that of the Commonwealth.
This shortfall in grants to local Government has to come from somewhere and rates will have to rise to fund vital services. Is it any wonder then, that the City of Monash announced at it’s council meeting of 8 June that it was planning to increase rates by 7.5% in 2005. Well above the annual CPI increase.
On top of this there is a systematic cost shifting of expenditure and ever increasing demands and responsibilities placed upon local Government from what was previously vested at State (especially) and Federal level. How much longer can councils, and the City of Monash in particular, hold out from these pressures before even more substantial rate increases.
We would like to hear from you on this matter. Have your say. Write to the Monash Ratepayers Association at PO Box 1057 Huntingdale 3166, or email us at mail@monshratepayers.com.au
Philip Daw
President