SES LEVY HIT

RATEPAYERS could be hit with a new charge under plans to merge the Tasmania Fire Service with the State Emergency Service.

The Local Government Association of Tasmania has urged councils to consider centralising the work of the two organisations under one new entity, which would be called Fire and Emergency Services Tasmania.

Ratepayers would pay a levy to fund the new merged service.

The proposed reforms are part of a review of the Fire Service Act being chaired by former Tasmanian auditorgeneral Michael Blake, who is due to report back to the state government next month.

Tasmanian SES Volunteers’ Association acting president Bob Muller welcomed changes to the funding model but insisted the identity of the SES needed to be protected under the restructure.

THE work of the Tasmania Fire Service and State Emergency Service would be integrated and the state’s ratepayers hit with a new charge to fund SES volunteer units under sweeping proposed changes.

Under a host of draft recommendations outlined to councils this week via the Local Government Association of Tasmania, and seen by the Mercury, the extra fee would be an extension of the current fire services levy and collected by local councils in the form of rates.

Resourcing and funding for SES volunteer units would be centralised and the TFS and SES put under the umbrella of a new entity called Fire and Emergency Services Tasmania (FEST), which would also see:

RING-fencing arrangements for levies to fund FEST to be used only for that purpose.

CURRENT sources of funding for the SES, including local government, removed and replaced by a single propertybased levy.

TREASURY responsible for calculating the amount collected from the property-based levy annually.

FEST given power to establish and abolish brigades and units, determine membership of the units and to register and deregister volunteer members.

The proposed reforms are part of a review of the Fire Service Act being chaired by former Tasmanian Auditor-General Michael Blake, who is due to report back to the State Government next month.

Mr Blake, who has met with several councils and LGAT to discuss the plan, stressed the proposals were still draft recommendations.

Tasmanian SES Volunteers’ Association acting president Bob Muller said it was crucial the identity of the service was protected amid the changes.

“I see great value in combining some of the functions, but I do think we’d be doing the people of Tasmania a disservice by taking away the orange uniform,’’ he said.

“There is a very long heritage and great recognition of the SES and it would be in everybody’s best interests to keep the two services distinct in their specialties, distinct in their personnel and distinct in the way that they are represented in the community.”

Mr Muller welcomed proposed changes to the funding model which he said was currently disjointed and arbitrary.

But Tasmanian Ratepayers’

Association president Lionel Morrell said there needed to be public consultation to discuss a possible hike in rates. “The burden already of fire levies is too great and is resisted by ratepayers, and so the thought of also having to fund the volunteer groups is unfair on municipal ratepayers,’’ he said.

Under the current complex model, funding for emergency services is provided through federal, state and local government, and a property services levy, tax on commercial insurance premiums and a motor vehicle fire levy payable on annual vehicle registration fees.

Police, Fire and Emergency Management Minister Mark Shelton said the review would bring about change to the outdated Fire Service Act that was proclaimed in 1979. “We need to ensure that we have the best legislation to support our firefighters and our SES to keep Tasmanians safe for decades to come,’’ he said. cameron.whiteley@news.com.au