A Special Meeting of Council was held on Tuesday, 8 July, primarily to adopt the 2025-2026 budget and 2025-2026 rates policy. Correspondence relating to the closure of the Bendigo Bank in Queenstown was also on the agenda.
Adoption of the reviewed Rates & Remissions Policy
This policy had been reviewed, with key changes including:
- The removal of the fixed rates component. This means the calculation is simplified to be a calculation based solely on the AAV and the rate in the dollar
- Reduction to the rating multipliers for the Mining category and the Primary Production (Smiths Cove) category. This was required once the rates modelling was carried out and a rate in the dollar was determined.
- Setting of a varied rate in the dollar for all other Primary Production properties. The will bring these properties in line with Commercial and Industrial properties, given they too operate as a business.
- Definition of the waste charge for vacant land. The charge was set at $250 given the limited production of waste from these properties.
Adoption of the 2025/26 Budget Estimates
This provides income and expenditure forecasts and also sets what the rates are for the year.
- Based on the reviewed, simplified Rates & Remissions Policy, some rates will go up whilst some will go down.
- The rating increase applied to the total rates received is 2.5%.
- When considering rates and charges (Waste Management), the increase is below 2%, one of the lowest in the state.
- Council is focused on making sure rates are equitable and properties are being charged the correct amount for their rating category
- In previous years Council had applied a rate capping to many properties, resulting in those not receiving the cap paying more rates. Most of this capping has now been removed – noting that capping applied to properties owned and occupied by valid pension concession holders will have the capping phased out over the next few years.
- Overall the budget will result in a deficit and while this is not ideal, as part of a longer-term strategy Council will be aiming for a surplus in the upcoming years.
Bendigo Bank, Queenstown closure
Correspondence from the Bendigo Bank announcing the closure of their Queenstown branch was tabled and discussed. Council was unaware of the closing, learning of the matter through the community.
Council moved a motion to investigate options for a Bendigo Community Bank for the West Coast community including continuing until the end of the lease on the 30th of June 2026.
Trading at the site until June 30, which is when their lease on the building expires, will provide the community time if they wish to get behind a community bank.
Council’s role is advocacy and facilitation, and we will encourage the Bendigo Bank to communicate clearly and promptly with the community regarding the above two suggestions.
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Unfortunately, live streaming of the meeting failed, however an audio recording is available via our Council YouTube Channel