The Ararat rates debacle should serve as a cautionary tale to other local councils also looking at scrapping differential rates.
On Tuesday night, Ararat Rural City Council voted to defer until August any decision on whether it will rip an extra $2.5 million from the pockets of the region’s 461 farming families in rates.
It wasn’t exactly the outcome we were hoping for, but at least the farming community has been able to postpone – there is more time.
The silver lining is that the Victorian government has agreed to intervene with an investigation into the council’s rating strategy.
But this won’t report back until the start of August, and farmers will be left in the dark until then.
There has been a huge amount of community frustrated and outraged since the council first proposed scrapping the differential rating strategy in April.
If the plan is approved, the rates burden will be shifted completely onto farmers, who will collectively contribute an extra $2,432,665 in rates to the council’s 2017-18 budget. All other ratepayers stand to receive significant rate cuts.
Commercial enterprises will see their collective rates slashed by $631,140, while industrial businesses will get a cumulative cut of $86,464 and average households will collectively save $1,716,493.
The unfair rates burden being forced on farmers has become a toxic issue in the community.
A local poll of farmers found that respondents were feeling stressed, depressed and turning more to alcohol since the council unveiled its rating strategy.
Surely it’s the council’s responsibility to ensure that their constituents don’t face unmanageable economic stress because of council decisions.
It is impossible for farmers to pass on increases, which is something council has recognised in the past.
The council needs to step up, take its civic responsibility seriously, and reject this proposal once and for all to give farmers security about their finances.
No doubt the continuing rates debacle in Ararat is being watched closely by other rural councils.
By August, we need certainty that no rural council is considering moving to a uniform rating strategy.
David Jochinke, VFF president
