Road levy gone in Burnett

SOUTH Burnett Regional Council has moved to bury its controversial road levy in the general rates bill.

Instead of being the standalone levy of $200 a year that was charged equally to all ratepayers, it will be spread across the various rate categories and will be tied to the value of land.

This means residential homeowners will pay less but those owning rural land or more expansive residential and industrial land will pay more.

At the same time the council poured an additional $1 million into the road repair budget.

This brings the total amount spent on repairs to $6.75m, and is an increase of about 17 per cent on last year’s budget.

The $30 environmental levy was also rolled into the general rates.

Mayor Keith Campbell said moving to a valuation model would be fairer as it shifted the cost of paying for rural roads onto those who used them the most - farmers and industry.

“The funds raised from these levies form an integral part of our overall budget and as such they still need to be raised through the general rate,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Kathy Duff lamented the burden the decision would place on the farmers.

“The merger of the road infrastructure levy into general rates will particularly impact some of the rural producers as we move from a flat charge to a valuation based levy and this concerns me,” she said.

“The good news is that we have increased our budget for roads maintenance by $1m.”

Road portfolio holder Gavin Jones said he had mixed feelings.

“I acknowledge the fact that I have said on numerous occasions in the general public that I didn’t want the road infrastructure levy merged into the general rate but with all the information now availableI understand the need for this,” he said.

“Myopinion is that the road infrastructure levy should not have been introduced as a levy and that council should have made the hard call early to increase the general rate.”

- Michael Nolan