Despite advice to the contrary from all and sundry, the State Government has announced today that Council rates will be capped at 2%. At the same time, the State Government has raised their own property taxes by 5.2%. This is a terrible decision that will do nothing but hurt the Community as Councils struggle to maintain services that our residents rely on on a day to day basis. The ten year outlook of the Council budget is bleak, and it is likely that Monash Council, the only Council that is debt free, will be left with a choice of either borrowing money and taking on debt, or cutting services to the Community.
Read the response from the Municipal Association of Victoria here: http://www.mav.asn.au/News/Pages/rate-cap-double-standard-sets-councils-on-path-to-service-cuts-19dec16.aspx