Victorian councils release 2023-24 drafts, land values rise

Most of the state's farmers will see proposed rate hikes and farmland value increases, as councils release their draft budgets ahead of the next financial year.

Stock & Land took a look at some of the recently-released draft budgets.

The Victorian Farmers Federation has singled out the Moorabool Shire Council's 2023-24 draft budget as one that is particularly unreasonable to farmers.

VFF president Emma Germano said Moorabool was unable to set a flexible rating strategy, after proposing an average farm rate increase of more than 16 per cent.

"Disappointingly Moorabool has yet again decided to force a greater rate burden onto the shire's agricultural sector with a proposed 16.84pc increase to the average farm rate assessment," she said.

"As this is a particularly busy time for farmers in the region with crops being sown, the VFF is concerned that many local farmers will be oblivious to the council's proposed rate hike.

"They therefore have little ability to be consulted."

Balliang East livestock and cropping family farmer Kate Sharkey said land valuations failed to reflect farm business profits.

"Council can hide behind the land valuations as much as they like, the real problem is council themselves are not fulfilling their own obligations in distributing fair and equitable rates," she said.

VFF Livestock Group president and Fiskville sheep producer Scott Young said Moorabool had relied on increasing farmers' rates each year.

"Our rates have gone up 60-70pc in the last three or four years," he said.

"It's just not sustainable to keep putting that much pressure on one industry when our returns are not going up by that.

"There's only so much we can make off our land, unless the shire wants it all developed into houses they're going to need to start looking at ways of a better income stream.

"Pressures from expanding population growth and not enough revenue coming in, we really need to address it statewide and support a lot of these rural councils that are struggling."

The budget's estimated total value for farms rose by 25.89pc or $501 million, from $1.94 billion to $2.44b.

Moorabool Shire Council encapsulates towns including Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Maddingley, Darley, Gordon and more.

Ms Germano said the VFF were calling on an even distribution of rates amongst all taxpayers.

"The increase [in Moorabool] represents significant rates shock for farmers and will hurt business growth and productivity which are ultimately needed to help create local jobs, and to help protect farm businesses into the future," she said.

"It also represents one of the highest farm rate increases across all Victorian rural and regional councils for the year ahead."

She said the VFF proposed a strategy to the council that meant there would be flexible pay depending on farmers' property classes.

"A dynamic rating strategy must be adopted that sees the active use of differential rating powers to counteract the valuation asymmetries between different property classes," she said.

"This system has been successfully employed by other councils such as Ararat, Mansfield and Pyrenees."

The Pyrenees Shire Council proposed reducing its farm differential from 70pc to 67pc of that levied on households, as well as dropping farm rates by 14.15pc.

Meanwhile, the estimated amount raised by rateable farm properties would rise by 2.36pc or $112,000 to $4.87m.

The value of farmland would rise by 20.97pc or $602m from $2.872b in 2022-23 to $3.474b this financial year.

Meanwhile, Swan Hill Rural City Council dryland farming rates are set to surge by 20.8pc or $880,000, from $4.23m to $5.11m, while the shire's residential rates would increase by 1.7pc or $128,000.

But commercial, industrial and irrigated farmland rates would lower in the proposed 2023-24 budget.

The shire's commercial rates would lower by 1.3pc for Swan Hill and 2.4pc for Robinvale, while recreational rates would drop by 5.9pc, and irrigation and non-irrigation rates by 1.7pc.

Manangatang crop grower Christine Plant said she sent a submission to the council about her concerns and hoped they would consider an equitable rates spread.

"The disproportionate distribution of rates is our concern," she said.

"When you look at the three-year figures it's quite horrifying to see what the figures are to see the disproportion of percentage.

"Just because our valuations are 30pc more that doesn't mean our profit is going to increase, we depend on rainfall and if you don't get any rain then we don't make any money."

The estimated total land value for dryland farms would rise by 30.1pc or $335m, from $1.11b to $1.45b, and irrigation or non-irrigation farms would rise by 5.8pc or $102m.

Ms Plant said farmers were incredibly valuable to the region and should be considered as such.

"In their definition of dryland farming rate, they acknowledge that our incomes are extremely variable and they acknowledge that we have reduced access to services," she said.

"If they distributed the rates more equitably then we wouldn't have an issue."

Meanwhile, Glenelg Shire Council's $59-million draft budget proposes to drop the capital works spending by almost 70pc.

The shire's draft included a 9.51pc rate drop for farmers from the 2022-23 budget, with a 70pc differential to general rates.

Primary production land rates' amount will rise by 2.81pc or $275,000 in the proposed budget to $10m.

The council capped the rates at 3.5pc in line with the Victorian government's Fair Go Rates system.

The primary production land's estimated value rose 13.62pc or $511m between the 2022-23 financial year and 2023-24, which would sit at $4.26b overall.

Macedon Ranges Shire Council released its $110m draft budget on Monday, which showed the agricultural land value would jump by 19.77pc or $332m, from $1.68b to $2.01b.

Farmers in the region are set to be taxed 5.44pc less than last financial year because of higher property values.

Agricultural land rates making up the total amount raised by general rates would increase by 13.26pc or $339,000.

One of the draft's major differential rates included the agricultural land rate, which would apply to land defined as farmland, and was considered 20pc less than the general rate.