Budget dissent hits Kingborough

KINGBOROUGH Council has been forced to defend its proposed budget, which forecast a 4 per cent rate rise and residents paying an extra $40 for kerbside waste collection.

The budget was voted down on Monday night with five councillors supporting it, three voting against with two councillors absent.

A majority of six is required for the budget to be adopted and a special meeting will be held next Wednesday to determine the outcome.

Deputy Mayor Paula Wreidt voted against the budget.

“I have been frustrated by the lack of a serious attempt to reduce council expenditure through budget processes over the last few years,” she said.

Councillor Dean Winter, who also voted against the motion, said if the 4 per cent rate rise was adopted it would amount to a 17 per cent [with compound interest] increase over four years.

“This is totally unacceptable with CPI tracking below 2 per cent for most of that period,” he said.

“The budget would have seen council continue to produce underlying deficits and underfund replacement of its roads, footpaths, storm water, parks and other important assets.”

Kingborough general manager Gary Arnold said a number of years ago, council decided the best way to move to an underlying surplus was to increase rates by 4 per cent each year while controlling expenditure.

“The council is close to achieving the required underlying result, and if not for the loss of TasWater dividends in 2018/19, the budget would show an underlying surplus,” he said.

Mr Arnold said a review of service levels was conducted for critical council programs, which established that while there was always capacity for improvement, the services currently provided by the council fell short of what should be provided, primarily due to resource constraints.

Meanwhile, Clarence City Council approved a 2.6 per cent rate rise in its budget meeting on Monday.