STRATHBOGIE Shire Council has joined the state’s peak council advocacy body to express concern over steep rises to the regional fire services levy from 1 July.
The Fire Services Property Levy will be renamed the Emergency Services Volunteers Fund (ESVF) and will double from 8.7 cents to 17.3 cents per $1000 capital improved value.
The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) is calling on the state government to fund the administration of the ESVF, as councils cannot wear the cost.
MAV president Jennifer Anderson told North East Media that many councils across Victoria had already raised motions about their council collecting this levy on behalf of the state government and said there were concerns about the ‘cost shock’ for residents.
"Many rural councils’ modelling (shows) significant increases to ratepayers on agricultural land classified for primary production,” Cr Anderson said
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"However, the cost burden should not be on councils to collect or administer this state levy on behalf of the government."
Strathbogie Shire interim CEO Tim Tamlin gave The Euroa Gazette a summary of the levy’s cost for residents after modeling with local data.
According to back-of-envelope calculations, the new levy for farms in the shire will more than double with an average increase of 139 per cent.
“The average of the levy for a farm at the moment is $540 and it will go up to $1,530 in some cases,” Mr Tamlin said.
“Of course, every property is different, so some will be higher.”
The levy for commercial properties in the shire will increase by 73 per cent, industrial properties by 39 per cent, and residential by 30 per cent.
Mr Tamlin agreed that councils should not be responsible for collecting the levy.
The MAV is moving a motion that calls on the government to require the emergency and volunteer agencies to undertake inventories themselves to determine which volunteers will be exempt from the levy and to ensure equitable distribution of funds on a need basis.
Mr Tamlin said the expectation of councils to determine eligibility for the exemption will be an ‘administrative nightmare’.
“You've got your volunteer who's going once a year; so, who then qualifies?” he said.
“They're now going to get people that are going to join but won't do anything because they want to get the rebate.”
In two further motions, the MAV wants government assurance that recovery funding is sufficient to ‘at least’ match the level of support given before the changes are made and seeks a funding model that addresses local government sustainability as per a 2024 parliamentary inquiry submission.
Cr Fiona Stevens told council at its 18 February meeting of the importance of improving repair funding to a more appropriate level if it was found to be lacking.
“A simple example of that is there are assets such as bridges throughout the state that have been washed away during significant flooding and when…built back, have been built back to the same standard as before,” Cr Stevens said.
“If they are going to fund it to build it back and it was flawed to start with, then don’t build it back the same; build it better.”
The MAV meets on Friday, 16 May.
