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Farm Rates Up For Discussion

Bass Coast Farms

Discussion is set to continue on farm rates. The Bass Coast Farmers Rate Action Group, which represents local farmers, confirmed in a letter to Bass Coast Shire Council that it would like to take up the offer to

By Bass Coast - 29th August 2011 - Back to News

Bass Coast Mayor, Cr Veronica Dowman, was pleased to have received the letter from Secretary, Barbara Stewart which said: "The establishment of a group to develop a rating strategy for the Bass Coast Shire would be welcomed by the Rates Action Group and they look forward to this development".

"Clearly understanding how rural rates are calculated in Bass Coast and comparisons with other councils is an important step in this next round of discussions," said Cr Dowman.

"I am however concerned about recent newspaper reports that use figures from the Victorian Farmers Federation suggesting that we have the highest farm rates in the State, when this is not the case.

"There are differences in the way each council calculates farm rates," continued Cr Dowman.

"When this calculation is corrected to include all charges made by each council and includes the 20 per cent rural land rebate that Bass Coast offers to all farmers, then our average is nowhere near the highest in the State."

Council’s Corporate Services Director, Danny Luna, explained that some councils levy a municipal charge which is designed to recover some of the administrative costs of running council.

"This is a flat charge that applies equally to all properties irrespective of the valuation of a property," clarified Mr Luna.

"Bass Coast doesn't have this municipal charge, yet some of the councils we are being compared with, such as Corangamite, Ararat, South Gippsland, Golden Plains and Greater Shepparton do.

"The problem is that the municipal charge has not been included in the calculation for average farm rates for these councils," said Mr Luna.

Mr Luna also said that the treatment of the 20 per cent rural land rebate in the calculation for Bass Coast farm rates needs to be clarified.

"The average farm rates for Bass Coast quoted in the article are based on the fact that only two-thirds of farmers take up the 20 per cent rate rebate provided by Council," Mr Luna said.

"Council has no control over the number of farmers that apply for the rebate.

"A fairer comparison would be to calculate the average farm rates with the rebate being available to all farmers. When this is done, the average farm rate drops from $2,693 to $2,482," explained Mr Luna.

"The comparison table provided by the VFF and referred to in the article left off neighbouring Cardinia Shire, which also impacts on where Bass Coast sits in the averages on the table.

"When these matters are taken into account, it shows that the statement that Bass Coast has the highest average farm rates in the state is incorrect."

The following table shows the corrected comparative average farm rates per property for 2010/11.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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