Having two neighbouring council LGAs adopt two vastly different stances on rates for the next financial year has been an interesting talking point this week.
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Both Kempsey Shire Council and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council met for their monthly ordinary council meetings this week and the hot topic for both were rates for the 2024/2025 financial year.
Reporter Ellie Chamberlain covered Kempsey Shire Council's meeting on Tuesday, where councillors moved to hike property rates by 7.9 per cent for the upcoming financial year as an "essential" step to manage a multi-million dollar forecast deficit.
The confirmed 7.9 per cent rise in rates is 3.2 per cent higher than the already approved rate peg increase of 4.7 per cent.
Kempsey Shire Council Mayor Leo Hauville said the decision reflects a responsible balance of financial prudence and community needs.
Some community members in the Kempsey Shire believe the council has not been clear on alternative cost-savings and feel they have not been listened to.
I went along to cover Port Macquarie-Hastings Council's monthly meeting on Thursday.
Councillors moved to adopt an operational plan for the next financial year which includes a rate freeze. This was despite "concern" from the Office of Local Government that a rate freeze would "seriously hamper the council's ability to deliver... critical infrastructure programs".
Mayor Peta Pinson said while community feedback regarding rates appeared to be "impressive", the numbers needed to be looked at in relation to how many people participated in the engagement process compared with the LGA's population.
Other councillors said the community feedback "shouldn't be minimised or dismissed".
The fact that these two councils, which are only 40 minutes down the road from each other, have taken such different stances on rates has been an interesting topic of conversation in our newsroom this week.
One thing we have all come to understand is how complex and difficult it can be for those elected to make decisions on our behalf, to actually make those decisions.
Ruby Pascoe
Senior Journalist
