Burnie ratepayers can expect more rates rises if a financial management strategy to be tabled at Tuesday night’s monthly Burnie City Council meeting for March is adopted.
A report to be tabled at the meeting is recommending the council adopts a proposed rates increase of 7.66 per cent for the 2024-2025 financial year.
If adopted, it will follow on from rates rise of more than 10 per cent in the current and previous financial years, meaning a total rates rise of more than a quarter over three consecutive periods.
However, the report says the rates increase can drop back to around three and a half per cent by 2025-2026 as the council returns to a more financially sustainable position, noting the council budgets between 2016 and 2021 included rates rises below inflation, which was the root cause of the council’s current financial sustainability issues.
