A VICTORIAN Farmers Federation petition, calling for an inquiry into municipal rates, has been tabled in State Parliament.
The petition gathered 3300 signatures.
“Farmers are frustrated at bearing an ever greater share of the municipal rate’s burden,” VFF president Peter Tuohey said.
“We have farmers paying up to $40,000 a year in rates (Bass Coast) and others where the average farmer is paying $11,000 annually (Buloke Shire),” he said.
The petition was not an attack on local government, but a call for action to find a long-term solution to funding for many rural and regional councils.
The petition calls on Parliament to: “conduct an Inquiry into the fairness and equity of the local government rating system in rural and regional areas to find a more equitable way to apply rates to farmers”.
Mr Tuohey said Victoria needed sustainable councils, that didn’t have to rely on farmers’ rate revenue to cover the erosion of government funding.
Rural council financial viability was hit once again when the Federal Government froze the indexation of its local government grants scheme, putting a $134 million black hole in council budgets, he said.
