Message from the Mayor: 30 June 2023
Published on 30 June 2023
Hello, I'm John Connors, the Mayor of the Dungog Shire bringing you this week's Mayoral Message.
On Wednesday night, the Council met up for an Extraordinary Meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to adopt Council's Budget for the forthcoming year and to adopt the Operational Plan. In adopting the budget, Council agreed to a total budget of $69 million of which $50 million is applied to roads and bridges throughout the Shire. $42 million of that is capital works and a further $8 million is maintenance. So, of the $69 million total budget $50 million will be applied to roads and bridges.
That is a record budget for the Shire and is attributable to the significant grant funds the Council has carried over from recent years, where Governments, both the State and Federal Government, have been extremely generous with grants and the funds that we've had are still in the process of being spent. And that's reflected in the significantly higher than normal budget. When one looks at the forward estimates, regrettably, that number drops significantly as we move forward and I'm sure that's directly attributable to the prospect of there being less funds available from the State and Federal Government in future years.
As part of the budget process, Council also fixed its rates and charges for the forthcoming year. Rate increases are fixed by IPART and in the case of Dungog Shire Council our rate increase is fixed by the special rate variation, which is still current. That rate variation which was approved by IPART, as you will recall, allows Council to increase its rates by no more than 10%. That 10% includes the 4.4% rate paid that all councils have been allowed for the forthcoming year.
I know the throughout the Shire residents have received valuation notices from the Valuer General. Those valuation notices show, in some instances a decrease in value, and in other instances, a very significant increase in value. That I hear has generated concern within the community that increase in value will be reflected in the rates. But as I've explained, the rate increase is limited to 10%. However, because of the huge disparity in values from minus 1% to 135% increase, council has been unable to soften that or ameliorate that across the whole of the Shire and there will be some ratepayers where the increase will in fact, exceed 10%. That's something which is outside Council’s control.
The only time there will be an impact on everybody with the valuation increases is with the Catchment Management Levy, which is directly tied to the Unimproved Land Value. The Catchment Management Levy, is money that does not go to council and council is merely the collecting authority on behalf of the State Government for that money. So we have absolutely no control over the rate that is determined, nor do we get any benefit from those funds when they're collected. We’re merely an agency for the State Government.
I realise that not all of that is good news. But hopefully some of it has gone some way to explaining the impact of the valuation notices or the lack of the impact of those increased values on the forthcoming rates and charges.
If it is that any member of the community wants additional information or has queries when they receive their rate notice in due course, then please feel free to contact Council and clarify the issues that might be raised on your particular rate notice.
Council continues with the bridge replacement program and those impacted by the various bridges that are under construction will be well aware of that but there are no major roads that are impacted by bridge replacements at the moment and the greatest inconvenience is Summer Hill Rd, which is out of action because of the replacement of Jordans Bridge.
Hopefully if the weather remains those works will continue uninterrupted and the work will be completed as quickly as possible.
Pothole patching continues on Bingleburra Rd and elsewhere in the Shire, in an attempt to make some improvement, but even the small amount of rain that we've had in the past week has caused again, significant potholes to appear on numerous roads throughout the Shire and in the urban areas.
The most significant works that are underway at the moment are those on Park St at East Gresford with Clarence Town Rd on the approach to Dungog and the works on Sugarloaf Rd, all of which will continue in the coming week.
So with those few words, that's it for me this week. So until next week good luck and goodbye.