City to advertise a 1.5 per cent rate rise

The City of Greater Geraldton has agreed to advertise a 1.5 per cent rate rise across the board for the 2019/20 financial year.

From May 3, electors and ratepayers will have 21 days to submit feedback about the proposed rates and minimum payments.

The proposed rate-in-the-dollar for residential properties is 14.8529¢, and it will be 12.2934¢ for non-residential properties.

For unimproved value properties the rate-in-the-dollar would be set at 0.7775¢.

The City’s long term financial plan had previously looked at increasing rates by 2.5 per cent.

But chief executive Ross McKim said they were “reasonably confident” they could deliver a balanced budget with a reduced rate rise.

The community made it clear they’re struggling,” he said.

“We have no intention of further redundancies or reduced services.

“The challenge to staff and executives will be to … keep existing expenditure down.

“Unless there are any big new initiatives council wants that we’re not aware of, we’re reasonably confident with the 1.5 per cent increase.”

The proposal also suggests freezing the minimum payment of $1010 for the fourth year in a row.