REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Wednesday, May 8, 2013

RATEPAYERS would feel the sting of the federal carbon tax with Climate Change Minister Greg Combet confirming the Gold Coast City Council would be slugged with a bill of at least $6.2m when the hit on local government took effect in July 2013.

Concerns about the financial impact of the Gillard Government’s green charges had Gold Coast council bureaucrats nervous for some time.

At one point Mayor Tom Tate vowed the council would not pay the carbon tax, a pledge he later had to back away from.

A spokeswoman for Mr Combet said the government expected the impact of carbon pricing would be “modest”. “$6.2m from a council with $900m in revenue for 2011-12 and over 500,000 residents confirms this,’’ she said.

The Gold Coast fits neatly into that population bracket and has an annual budget of close to $1.2bn.

Council figures obtained by the Bulletin showed the cost of the carbon pricing would be passed on to ratepayers through additional charges on city services.

Keeping the streetlights on at night is expected to cost an extra $510,000, while general electricity costs would rise $570,000 and electricity to run Gold Coast Water would increase by $1.5m.

Garbage collections will cost an extra $2.1m a year.

For the average ratepayer, the cost means paying an extra $12 a year, or 22 cents per week each.

Mayor and LNP member Tom Tate said winding services back would not be considered.

The carbon tax was later dumped.