AUSTRALIAN Country Alliance wants a parliamentary inquiry into local government in Victoria, including why council rates seem to keep rising above the inflation rate.
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Ovens Valley candidate Julian Fidge — who was part of the Wangaratta council sacked by former Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell last year — said in a policy statement that rates had continued to rise “with no apparent improvement in service or infrastructure”.
The ACA inquiry would also examine the local government rating system for farms, which the Victorian Farmers Federation said shouldered 46 per cent of rates-assessed regional businesses but only made up 12 per cent of the regional economy.
Dr Fidge said the imbalance threatened the viability of Victorian farms.
“This reasonable criticism and petition for an inquiry into the problem has fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
He said average weekly disposable incomes of farmers in 2009-10 was lower than that of people working in other jobs, $568 as opposed to $921.
“Regardless of the timing and outcome of any inquiry, I would ask local governments to immediately use the differential rating system to reduce farm rates by 5 per cent a year for the four years of the next state government term,” he said.
“This would lead to a 20 per cent reduction in rates for farmers in a systematic and sustainable manner.”
