Cassowary Coast Regional Council

The single most important decision taken by council in any year is the handing down of the annual budget.

This year has been especially difficult because we have tackled the daunting task of integrating the residential rating categories from the north and south of the Region.

General rates have increased by 6%. We worked to keep the increase to a minimum, in the knowledge that integration would result in rates for some 1861 properties going down, while some 1620 would have to increase by greater than 15%.

The minimum charge will increase from $802 to $875, which is a 9% increase and this will affect some of the properties in the 0-40000 unimproved capital value category.

The Community Rating Reference Group recommended that council calculate the minimum ‘cost’ a basic residential property incurs and the result was $1,600. This reflects the fact that, unlike a typical trading company, most of council’s costs are fixed. A minimum charge of say 50% – 60% of this calculated ‘cost’ is seen by me as reasonable. This enabled council to lessen the burden on rural rate payers, which was identified by the Reference Group as necessary.

Charges for water and sewerage need to reflect the real cost of providing these utilities and increases of 8% have been made for most services. The charge for Tully sewerage has increased by $102.56 to $475 per property, but is still significantly less than Mission Beach at $594.34 (using the same shared system) and Innisfail at $606.70 (where major works are necessary).

Garbage and waste management charges have increased by 6%..

Rates and charges will raise $45.6 million out of total revenue of $63.2 million.

Total operating expenditure includes depreciation and interest and the pleasing outcome is a small surplus. This is with providing for the employment of an Economic Development Officer – a new and necessary position in our developing Region.

Notable big ticket items of cash operating expenditure include:-

• $5M on road maintenance
• $3.5M on parks, gardens and sporting fields
• $1.5M on library services
• $1.1M for waste disposal
• $563,000 on visitor information centres
• $423,000 on swimming pools
• $326,000 on showgrounds
• $307,000 for stinger enclosures
• $214,000 on aerodrome facilities

Capital items in the budget include:-

• Roads and drainage $7M
• Sewerage work $6M
• Fleet and plant $3.2M
• Facilities and building $2.3M

In addition to the major sewerage works in Cardwell township (total net cost to council of some $6 million), the Multi Purpose Centre in Tully will be built for a cost to ratepayers of $1.4 million (total costs being some $6 million) and we are proceeding with investigatory planning and costing to allow council to consider the construction of a new bridge in Innisfail, with $12 million coming from the state government, towards a total cost of some $20 million. If the Innisfail Bridge proceeds we will need to borrow or source federal money.

Our existing borrowings are $20.4 million, which is a modest level of debt.