REMEMBER WHEN

THE Gold Coast has seen plenty of radical ideas in the past few decades including this one.

Back in mid-1984 the Gold Coast City Council was thrashing out its annual budget for the year when a scheme to allow pensioners to pay their rates after death was proposed.

The new system would allow a State Government-controlled fund established to pay rates until death of eligible pensioners.

An accumulated debt would then be established and upon death that debt plus interest would be paid from the deceased estate.

Council finance committee member Keith Thompson told the Bulletin the scheme was worth considering.

He said a similar idea had been raised during a controversial Kooralbyn city council budget summit meeting the previous year.

“It has taken more than a year to get to our agenda but we think this scheme warrants careful consideration by local authorities and the State Government,” he said.

“This simple proposal, if ever adopted by the State Government, would help all sections of the community with a theoretical costing of nothing.

Mr Thompson said only pensioners with enough assets to pay off a state debt would be allowed into the scheme.

In 1984, about 10,000 of the 55,000 ratepayers living in the city were above the age of 65 while more than 40,000 Gold Coast residents being over the age of 60.

Meanwhile, the annual Gold Coast Antique Fair began.

Toowoomba resident Jenny Hinz was pictured with an 1850s-era piece of silverware.