Council plans to raise rates

Launceston proposes 3.9% increase

A RATES increase, a focus on Launceston City Deal commitments and a $35.4 million spend on capital projects are part of the Launceston City Council’s draft budget and plan for 2020-21.

Councillors will vote to release the documents for community feedback at Thursday’s meeting.

Mayor Albert van Zetten said the council was proposing a 3.9 per cent increase in rates, which was just above the council cost index of 3.38 per cent.

He said council would focus on delivering City Deal commitments, including the River Health Action Plan, City Heart, My Place My Future, stormwater management and a traffic signal upgrade.

Capital projects listed in the budget include $7 million for an upgrade and refurbishment of the Albert Hall, $6 million for a new Launceston Waste Centre cell liner, $3.13 million for the urban road renewal program, $2.4 million for a road resealing program and $1.5 million for a UTAS Stadium upgrade and sports facility feasibility study.

“Our organisation is moving towards becoming more agile and we have the ability to mobilise resources to deal with emerging issues, which potentially could include the council’s response to managing the coronavirus pandemic,” Ald van Zetten said.

He said the council had implemented measures to mitigate a number of rising costs.

“Launceston continues to be impacted by the reduction in the TasWater distribution – some $1.36 million for our council alone and a reduction in interest revenue due to historically low interest rates – a loss of more than $1.2 million.

“That’s on top of a $1.5 million TasWater charge for our combined system, $500,000 in maintenance and depreciation costs for Riverbend Park and wearing the cost of $322,000 a year for the free FOGO service,” he said.

Garbage collection costs have also risen 11.3 per cent to $5.38 million.

Ald van Zetten said mitigation would be through a review of council assets and a review of the governance arrangements for major regional assets like UTAS Stadium and QVMAG. The council is expecting to save $400,000 in the first year after converting the Launceston Aquatic Centre’s gas system to a heat pump/solar system.

The council has budgeted for a surplus of $9.8 million in 2020-21, with an operating budget deficit of $1.88 million.