Council made history by voting to provide financial relief for all ratepayers and businesses in response to cost-of-living pressures at a special Council meeting on 20th June. Rates revenue will increase rates by 2.8% instead of the 3.5% maximum allowed rates cap from 1 July. We understand Port Phillip may have been the only Council not to increase rates by the full amount. 

We understand this is the first time any Council in Victoria has resolved not to increase rates revenue by the maximum amount. Council said “this is the first time we have proposed an increase below the rates cap, introduced in 2016/17. It will not be funded by service cuts. Instead, we will put less into our reserve fund as a buffer for known and unexpected challenges over the next decade”. 

The cost of adopting a lower rate rise is about $900,000 in 2023-24 – a very small concession to property and business owners when Council has a $8.5 million surplus. Council intends to use the surplus to fund the estimated accumulated impact over the next 10 years which is $11 million less in rates collected. 

Cr Rhonda Clark said “an increase in rates of 2.8% is a very modest reduction in the state government rate cap of 3.5%, given the large surplus of over $8 million, I believe the rates increase should have been zero. With a revenue budget of over $250 million, a greater decrease was quite achievable if residents were put first”. 

Cr Christina Sirakoff said “I support a rates reduction to help our residents in these dire economic times because Council has not only an $8.5 million surplus but also $160 million in reserves earning interest and 53% of participants in our Council community survey supported a rates reduction”.  

Residents of Port Phillip (ROPP) have been advocating for a rates freeze for five years because Port Phillip rates are excessive compared with neighbouring councils - see  https://ropp.org.au/property-rates-calculator/

ROPP would have preferred a zero-percentage increase but acknowledge 0.7% reduction in revenue is better than no reduction.

Cr Clark observed “There are many people who turn up to council meetings who want greater expenditure for their personal interests and fail to understand the balance that needs to be struck for the broader community who require relief from council, not more council spending. It's hard to see how a significant amount of the expenditure we're proposing is more important than people's heating food or housing costs because those are just the fundamentals that people need. It's disappointing to me that my fellow Councillors can't support something more substantial for our residents”.