The Northern Beaches Advocate: Northern Beaches residents have been left fuming as Council voted to push through a 40 percent rate rise over three years.

Despite a hail storm and torrential rain in the hour before the meeting, it was standing room only as around 200 angry residents attended last night’s Extraordinary Meeting of Northern Beaches Council (Tuesday, 28 January) at Dee Why. The residents had held a vocal protest rally outside Council Chambers before the meeting, where most were soaked in the downpour...

Pittwater MP Jacqui Scruby (image above) said she opposed rate rises in a cost of living crisis but blamed cost shifting onto local government as the cause, calling on the NSW Government to implement the recommendations of the recent NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the ability of local government to fund infrastructure and services.

“As a state MP, my focus is on how I can keep rates down from a state perspective. I will be strongly advocating for the NSW Government to act on the recommendations, so ratepayers are not left with rapidly rising rates.

“I will be raising the issue in Parliament when it resumes, and I have already requested the government directs the Audit Office of NSW to undertake an independent performance audit for NBC [Northern Beaches Council] and regulate senior bureaucrat salaries.

“Northern Beaches Council is not alone. Across NSW, over the last two years, 25+ Councils have applied or are applying to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) for special variation rate rises. Councils are facing similarly increasing costs.

“These costs include general inflation, above CPI increases to construction and insurance costs, the financial impact of extreme weather (the cost of climate change) and cost-shifting to councils from the NSW Government, including the Emergency Services Levy.

“Here on the Northern Beaches, we want public money used effectively and we want a demonstration of austerity measures. We don’t want waste, such as shoddy workmanship in the Avalon Shared Space. Additionally, people are frustrated about spending on ‘solutions in search of a problem’, such as new traffic calming measures or shared space plans.

“Although projects like these are often funded by the NSW State Government through grants and not by council rates, people would prefer money is spent on local priorities such as maintaining our pools, roads and reserves, or building footpaths. It’s my job to push to allow councils to use that money where it’s needed most.

“Ratepayers are already feeling under pressure, and I will be working hard at state level to advocate for practical solutions for this community,” said Ms Scruby.

Read the full article here: Residents rage over rate rise - Northern Beaches Advocate