Councillor Nancy Casson is putting forward a Notice of Motion in tomorrow nights council meeting to help those suffering financial hardship and are unable to pay their rates.

Cnr Casson's intention is to take the already budgeted salaries of former councillors Gianpiero Battista and Greg Bennett (who resigned as Lismore City Councillors in August) and put them into a nominated reserve account.

"I would like to finish want Gianpiero Battista was trying to get through with his previous voluntary donations motion," says Councillor Casson, "the money is already allocated in the current budget so it will not cost council any additional funds and we can help people in need."

When asked about what sort of case this money will be approved for, Cnr Casson mentioned the example of a local farmer whose property was revalued this year. Unfortunately the revaluation meant that his assets were significant enough to affect his and his wife's pension. At the time his wife was suffering from cancer and subsequently passed away in January. Due to the reduction in his pension through both circumstances, he was unable to pay his rates.

Cnr Casson reported that this man did the right thing and notified council to organise a payment plan once he could sell some cattle. This is where some sort of error occurred and council hired a debt collector to chase the late payment at a reported cost of $457. The man has paid his deferred rates amount then told Cnr Casson that he would pay this debt collector bill but it would put him on the bread line. Cnr Casson would like this fund to pay back the debt collector fee because he tried to follow procedure and organise a payment plan.

"I would like each case looked at separately," said Cnr Casson. "I hope that my fellow councillors support my motion tomorrow night. There are a lot of people suffering in our community."

Lismore Council voted Council resolved to adopt a temporary policy in relation to address Covid-19 that allowed ratepayers to apply for a period of 60 days interest free from the 31 May 2020 rates due date, with no restrictions such as living on the property or being rated under a Residential category. To date Council has received approximately 30 enquiries but only 15 applications.

The other side of the coin is that council is has a forecast deficit of $458,000 for the 2020/2021 financial year and that this saving should be returned to the general fund and reduce that deficit. The saving is $40,490.

It really comes down to short term help for struggling individuals versus medium to long term advantages for everyone in our community.

Councillor Casson's Motion is that Council:

1. Allocate councillor fees for both Councillors Battista and Bennett be put in an account designed to help ratepayers who find themselves unable to pay their rates during the COVID-19 pandemic

2. Application are to be assessed as per Council’s Hardship Policy

3. Resolves to place this money into a reserve