Dubbo Regional Council puts through 2023/24 rate rise

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has determined that the Dubbo Regional Council's general income may be increased by the rate peg of 3.7 percent for the 2023/2024 financial year.

While the total rating pool is going up by 3.7 percent, it doesn't mean individual rates would rise by that amount.

At the May council meeting mayor Mathew Dickerson said the valuer general "may put rates up much higher or lower and a combination of the valuer general's evaluations and the 3.7 percent will decide what your rating might be".

Dubbo Regional Council pushed through the rate rise at the latest ordinary council meeting on June 22.

The Valuer General has also provided the council with land valuations for all properties within the Dubbo Regional Council Local Government area as at July 1, 2022 under a general valuation.

These values will take effect for rating purposes as at July 1, 2023.

Councillor Matthew Wright said making rate adjustments was always "challenging".

"I know that a lot of households are under pressure and there's certainly a council under pressure like a lot of other businesses and households," he said.

"This is a big household as well, and it's carrying a pretty big budget and has some pretty large financial responsibilities to the community."

READ MORE:

Cr Wright said it was important for the council to have discussions with the community about special rate variations and to put that on the table for struggling residents and business owners.

"There will be a lot of work that will go into that before any form of special rate variation hits the table," he said.

"I'm calling for the community to help us formulate something which they might see as fair for both council to run a business that provides an acceptable level of service to the community, but also one that the community sees as fair for them as well."

Cr Wright said he was "happy" to pass this motion and hoped it would be supported by the community.

Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.