UPDATE 15 AUGUST 2020: RoPP campaign successful in delaying new Bin Tax

We are pleased to see that the Bin Tax will not be introduced this financial year, according to Port Phillip’s updated web page.

Thanks to all for your help with our Bin Tax campaign!

The best way to ensure your rates are reduced to be in line with neighbouring councils, is to vote for a RoPP endorsed candidate at the upcoming October election. We will be releasing the exciting news about our endorsed candidates soon, so stay tuned.

• At the 4th December 2019 Council meeting, a “Waste and Amenity levy” was proposed to address the waste crisis, forecasted to add $64 million over the next 10 years to Council’s “rate cap challenge”. RoPP spoke at that meeting in opposition to the new Tax, unless the Council could provide more information.
• We finally received a written response from the CEO on July 2nd 2020, confirming that Council were considering options of how to fund the Bin Tax, including the levy being additional to existing rates.
• Our poster and leaflet campaign to stop the Bin Tax commenced on 30th July 2020.
• Council’s website still detailed the impending Bin Tax. Now those details have been removed, replaced instead with a statement about the deferral.
• Why would Council remove the details from their website? As of writing this, the minutes of the 4th December 2019 Council meeting where the Bin Tax was voted on, are also no longer available on their website. Further, we have discovered that almost 20 years of Council meeting agendas & minutes have been removed in the last week.
• Please refer to the end of this webpage for details of the Essential Services Commission’s role in waste levies.

The facts and our transparency speak for themselves. The Council’s backdown on a new Bin Tax shows that our campaign has had an impact. Council have rightly recognised the harshness of introducing a new tax on top of the burden of existing rates, in a time of economic crisis.

Port Phillip Council is one of the highest spending councils in the state and are now proposing to introduce an additional Waste and Amenity levy on top of the exorbitant rates you already pay.
See https://ropp.org.au/fact-check-how-high-are-port-phillip-rates-compared-to-neighbouring-councils/

So in addition to a 2% increase to total rates collected this year (the maximum allowable under the State government’s rate cap system), you would have to pay a levy for ‘Waste and Amenity’, “A BIN TAX” on this fundamental service. This would severely impact both ratepayers and residents at a time when many have lost their livelihoods, incomes and ability to pay.

Council claims that the reason they need to charge a new levy is because waste costs are rising at a greater pace than inflation. There are two issues with this:

1. Waste management, a core service of council, only accounts for 5.3% of the Port Phillip budget[1], meaning that even if this component increased by 10% per year, the effect on the overall budget would only be around 1-1.2%, well within the 2% rate cap.

2. Competent management should be able to absorb this fundamental service easily, by forecasting these cost issues and re-prioritising their budget accordingly. Instead, the majority of the 2% increase in general rates will go towards wage rises for staff, which council has stubbornly refused to address (or even acknowledge).

Council wants to take the easy way out yet again, by charging ratepayers a new BIN TAX instead of doing the hard work necessary to manage the budget.

The waste and amenity levy (BIN TAX) would sit outside the 2% annual rate cap imposed by the Essential Services Commission. This gives council the option to increase the levy by whatever amount it wishes, and you can be sure it will – council will use the levy to fund its inability to manage its own budget. Council describes this inability to live within their own means the ‘rate capping challenge’.

IT’S A NEW TAX ON TOP OF YOUR EXISTING RATES

Councillors did not want to be held accountable at the ballot box for introducing a new tax this year, so have deferred its introduction until after the election. We are here to highlight the issue so that you have the chance to stop council by voting for an independent candidate that will vote against the BIN TAX and hold the council to account. Keep an eye on our website for an independent review of candidates running in the October election.

 We say:
1. ROPP does not support the introduction of a Waste and Amenity Levy in addition to the burden of existing rates. Council need to get the budget under control instead of taking the easy way out: a new Bin Tax

2. Now is not the time to impose new taxes on a struggling economy. It’s not fair and it needs to be stopped.

Essential Services Commission’s role in waste levies
Council can levy a new charge in addition to existing rates, just like two councils did in 2018-19. This is subject to the oversight of the Essential Services Commission, however Councils retain full autonomy to introduce new charges. Council can opt to introduce a waste levy in a revenue neutral way, reducing general rates by the same amount that the new levy raises. This is what Maribyrnong did in 2019-20.

As Port Phillip Council said themselves on the now removed ‘waste challenges’ webpage :
 “Council is also considering a proposal to introduce a waste and amenity levy, which would be a payment separate to Council rates to cover some, or all, of the costs incurred by council to deliver waste, recycling and cleansing services. This would enable Council to set a service rate or charge (levy) that’s in line with the true cost of the service.