Next week, Lismore City councillors will be voting on a Special Rate Variation (SVR) for the Lismore region.

The rate variation has caused a stir in the local community, with not only community members, but with local councillors too.

A special rate variation (SRV) allows a council to increase its general rates income above the annual rate peg of 2.5%, as set by the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART). 

The SRV has been open for discussion through two rounds of community consultation over the last few months.

At a briefing for councillors this week, Councillor Gianpiero Battista walked out of the meeting, saying he was concerned about the confusing design of the survey and the lack of information given to him about the results of round one of SVR community consultation.

“I’m concerned that Lismore is already in crisis and we need to be careful not to kill the town even further with steep rate increases,” Cr Battista said.

SRV options

The SRV options include sticking to the rate peg set by IPART asking for a staggered increase of 7.5, 9.4, 3.9 and 3.2% increases over four years, or an increase over two years of 17 % in the 2020/21 financial year and 6.9% the following year.

 “On August 27, councillors had a briefing where staff said they received submissions from the first round of consultations and they said people were mostly concerned about 17% being too steep in one year,” Cr Battista said. 

“So, Council decided to hold a second consultation and ask two questions: do you want the rate rise spread over two or four years?

“I asked them ‘what about option 3 - no rate variation?’ - the survey should include all options.”

Councillor's concerns

Cr Battista said he was concerned about how the results of the round one of community consultation were compiled.

"We were told 50% of ratepayers in both consultation phases stated they were not in favour an SRV, while 35% wanted the four year variation and 15% were supporting the two year variation.

“I wanted to see it with my own eyes, so I could make up my mind about it.

“I requested access to copies of the results three times, but was refused.

“Staff told me to wait until I could be given all of the information together.

“Without answers, I thought what’s the point of being here, and I walked out of the briefing.”

Cr Battista said he wanted to make sure there was a valid reason for the council deciding to do a second round of community consultations.

“I know most people will say they don’t want an SVR and I wanted to make sure the data results weren’t skewed to a certain position - and make sure there was no bias in any decisions made by Council.”

Cr Battista also had concerns about how the second consultation survey was put together.

“I was concerned with how people were asked to agree or disagree with an option on a sliding scale,” he said. 

“For example the question about Option 1: No Special Rate Variation would create confusing results when the answer of ‘strongly agree’ or ‘strongly disagree’ negates the question.”

Lismore "unviable"

With some commercial properties in Lismore already paying a much higher price than their neighbours in other Council areas, Cr Battista was concerned that a further rate rise would make Lismore “unviable”.

“We need to compare ourselves with our close neighbours like Tweed, Byron and Richmond Valley Council areas,” he said.

“If we become unviable, people won’t come here. 

“Byron has the sea and Richmond Valley has a string message of being open to development. 

“Our message is that we are putting taxes up again. Our economic situation is not looking rosy and we could be moving toward recession.

“Last week, Lismore was reported as having the highest poverty levels in the area. 

“How will people like single parents and pensioners cover the extra cost of a rate rise?

Cr Battista said the Council meeting next week could be a close vote on which SRV option Council will go ahead with.

Why an SRV?

Lismore City Council has applied for the SRV because it is "unable to provide its current services without increased revenue", and will use any extra revenue raised “to rebuild more roads and undertake increased gravel road maintenance”.

Council also reported that additional funds will be used to improve the local economy by enhancing the CBD and riverbank areas and provide incentives for new businesses to open.

How will they vote?

Councillor Neil Marks sad he’s not sure yet which way he will vote at next week’s Council meeting.

“It will come down to the debate on the night,” he said.

“We need $5.4 million a year to do the work we need to get done.

“If we vote no to the rate rise, we need to then say ‘come back to with $5.4 million worth of cuts to Council’s budget’

“We can’t stay doing what we are doing.

“Do we cut one of the libraries to save money?

“I’ve been on Council 11 years and every year I’ve seen more cuts.

“We are trimming departments and some we used to have - we don’t have anymore

“We are already 80 staff down on where we should be by the population of our city.

“I don’t know what’s left - that’s the frustration.

“Kyogle Council raised rates and Richmond Valley raised rates with a SRV five times.

“We’ve done it once in 10 years.

“Now it’s crunch time.”

For more information about the SRV, visit https://yoursay.lismore.nsw.gov.au/rates-consultation/faqs#question47892