Latest news with #councilbudget
ABC News
07-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
North Burnett Regional Council hands down Queenland's biggest rate increase
A Queensland council has blamed spiralling costs and stagnant growth for a record rate increase. The financially struggling North Burnett Regional Council raised general rates by 25 per cent in its $69-million, 2025-26 budget delivered on Monday morning, surpassing Townsville City Council's recent 20 per cent increase for some owner-occupiers. All separate charges, such as sewerage, water and waste, as well as and levies for local disasters, natural resource and landfill management have increased by 19 per cent. Mayor Les Hotz said the increase – which would amount to more than $800 per year for residential ratepayers – was necessary to pay for council's utilities and services without relying on additional government grants. He said the added revenue from the increased rates and fees would shave about $2.6m off the council's deficit and bring it down to about $8m at the end of this financial year. "We're just trying to meet the costs without having to reach out and ask our state and federal government to assist," he said. "I'm sympathetic toward the the ratepayer that is struggling, the pensioner and those that do not have work. Pensioner Colin Boot was in the public gallery for the budget meeting at Gayndah Community Hall. The 81-year-old Gayndah resident said he would have to cut down on other expenses. "I just can't see where we're going to get that extra money … the only thing I can see is [cancelling] insurance," Mr Boot said. "Ten per cent — we would have coped with it somehow, but 25 per cent?" Resident and former councillor Dael Giddens said families would likely cut back on after-school activities. "You might have had the kids playing cricket and soccer and doing swimming," she said. The North Burnett region is one of the largest in the state, covering almost 20,000 square kilometres and a total of more than 4,800km of sealed and unsealed roads owned by the council and the state government. Chief executive Craig Matheson said council's approach to the budget was guided by previous community consultation that "unequivocally showed" that residents wanted existing services retained. "It was a challenge, but we knew without a doubt what the community wanted," he said. Mr Matheson said costs had increased by 10 per cent in recent years but the ratepayer base of 6,323 properties had only grown by one per cent in the last decade. First-term councillor Trina Vaughn voted against the budget because of the added burden it would place on ratepayers already struggling with the cost of living. "I've spoken with people who are going without medication because they just can't make ends meet," she said. "It's definitely a problem that has been imposed on us by the current climate and it's not just a North Burnett Regional Council problem — it is Australia-wide." Deputy Mayor Melinda Jones voted against the budget but was in favour of raising fees and charges. "We've weathered fires and floods and now we need to weather something else — the cost of catching up," she said. The budget's long-term forecast indicates that the council's cash reserves will dwindle to less than one month's operating expenditure before rising above the target of four months by 2032-33. Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) chief executive Alison Smith said the rate increase showed councils had "reached a tipping point" beyond which they could no longer pay for community services.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Why are Scotland's councils so short of cash when tax is going up?
Scotland's councils are facing a budget gap of just under £1bn over the next two they've just had a real-terms increase to their funding from Holyrood, they've put up local taxes by an average of 9.6%, and many have increased charges for some services while cutting are they still so short of cash?It has become a wearily familiar issue, with prized local services like libraries and nurseries coming under threat because councils are short on cash. These cuts sting not just because they're core services – many are annoyed because they've just seen a big increase in their council tax. Do councils have more money? Let's take a look under the hood. First of all, the money coming fair to say the amount of money flowing into local government has gone far the biggest chunk of local budgets comes from allocation this year was in excess of £15.2bn, an increase of 6% in real have also raised more on their own from the council tax freeze, almost every town hall in Scotland opted for a double digit increase this year. In Falkirk it hit 15.6%, and the smallest was still 6%.That is forecast to bring in £275m extra over the coming year, across the 32 increase was partly making up for the previous year's surprise freeze - overall, bills in Scotland remain lower than in other parts of the several councils have already priced in further increases over the next few have also increased income from things like council house rents and extra charges for second homes and for collection of garden waste can be a real money-spinner in some areas; North Lanarkshire Council expects to raise £1.5m a year after bringing in a charge for garden waste why are councils still so stretched? Why are the potholes still often unfilled, and why are some councils at the point of turning off streetlights? The budget gap Between the 32 councils, there is currently a gap of £647m between what they intend to spend this year, and how much money they have coming highest is a £70m gap at City of Edinburgh Council, but it's over £10m at all but six of the councils.A further shortfall of £528m is projected for 2026/27, and £496m for 2027/ terms of what the costs actually are, the biggest issue is the ever-increasing demand for the services councils most notable in terms of looking after Scotland's aging population, in free personal care and plan to spend about £18bn on day to day services this year; £4bn of that is directly related to social care will only increase as demographic pressure ramp up; people are living longer and the birth rate is falling, so the average age of Scotland's population is estimated there will be an extra 341,300 people over the age of 75 by the year 2047. There are other pressures too; councils are on the front lines of delivering various government policies, like boosting teacher numbers or providing free school is generally cash from the government to deliver that, but it's often ring-fenced - meaning councils have control over less and less of their that's why cuts often fall in areas like road maintenance, which are fully in the gift of councils to has been a long-standing issue - there is no longer any fat to trim. Cost-saving exercises are now cutting into what many would consider core Aberdeenshire - where the budget gap is approaching £40m, despite a 10% increase to council tax - parents were informed before the Easter holidays that four nurseries were set to be mothballed. The council says this is a temporary measure, and that there is no intention of a permanent shutdown - but parents protesting outside their headquarters call it "closure by stealth".Lindsay Love, a parent at Crossroads nursery, told BBC Scotland: "Without those vital local services it can impact really negatively on families."Women especially, not having the access to local education close by can cause huge problems getting to work for example." The role of inflation Budgets have also been hit by inflation. Everything has got more expensive, and goods and services cost more to Youth Complex provides a good example of how funding can be eroded over the longer term even if it holds steady in cash ongoing grant from the council provides the bulk of their funding. But it's not indexed to the cost of living or inflation, so it's been eroded in real head of the complex, Fraser Howat, says that the funding it gets now is about 20% of what it was in the 1990s - despite the fact the centre is working with even more young people than before. He has already had to let some staff go this year, and says "it's a constant struggle to try and keep the team together and keep this going".Across the country, inflation has also driven pay deals which councils will have to carry the cost reckon 3% pay settlements are going to continue through to 2027/28, which increases the cost of the workforce year after top of that, there's the hike in National Insurance Contributions for employers, which hits the public sector there's a pot of money for that - the UK government is providing some compensation which then flows on to councils, but there is a major dispute with Scottish ministers who contend the total award doesn't take account of the larger public sector workforce north of the border. The Scottish government has announced £144m of funding for councils to cover the tax increase in NICs, but Cosla estimates the true cost could be more like £ all of this together and you get to why the Accounts Commission concludes that council finances remain "precarious and extremely challenging, and not sustainable in their current form".We frequently hear calls from these kind of audit bodies about how the delivery of services needs a also the seemingly endless debate about the future of local taxation, which almost every party wants to reform but have never got around to doing anything about was one thing during the era of the council tax freeze, but the point the Accounts Commission is making is that increased charges build expectation that services will voters will not put up with paying more to get less.
