In NSW Parliament this week Mr Bromhead spoke about the need for a rate rise to provide MidCoast Council with “the capacity to begin to address the infrastructure backlog.”

The catalyst for Mr Bromhead’s address to Parliament was the Local Government Amendment (Rates – Merged Council Areas) Bill 2017. The bill amends the Local Government Act to provide rate protection for residents in merged council areas for four years – however, MidCoast Council is exempt. An amendment to the Bill providing council with the ability to apply for a Special Rate Variation (SRV). It is the only merged council of the 20 new councils to secure the exemption from the four year rate path protection.

“If the MidCoast Council chooses to apply for a rate rise and the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) agrees to it, there may be a rate rise. This is a win for the ratepayers of the MidCoast Council,” Mr Bromhead said.

“The former Greater Taree City Council sought a rate variation increase of almost 50 per cent prior to the amalgamation announcement. If not for the merger of the Manning Valley and the Greater Taree City Council into the MidCoast Council local government area those ratepayers would be looking at a 50 per cent rate rise. If not for the merger, the people of Gloucester would face a 40 per cent rate rise in addition to any current rate rise.

“The former Great Lakes Council applied for a 20.7 per cent rate increase. So if the MidCoast Council decides to put an application to IPART and it makes a determination, there will be 20 per cent rate rise across the entire council area, not a 50 per cent rate rise in the former Greater Taree local government area and a 40 per cent rate rise in the former Gloucester LGA. That will be a tremendous saving for those communities.

“Ratepayers of the former Greater Taree City Council in the Manning region will pay 28.9 per cent less in rates. That is 28.9 per cent less than the former council sought. In the Great Lakes region the rate rise will be the same as that sought by the former council. Ratepayers in the Gloucester region will pay 31.3 per cent less than was sought, which is great news for them.”

Mr Bromhead said that “people who are concerned about potential rate rises must consider the tremendous need in this area.”

“The merged area has a population of more than 90,000 people. It covers more than 10,000 square kilometres and has 190 kilometres of coastline, 3574 kilometres of road and 542 bridges—of which 195 are timber. The maintenance backlog for roads and bridges is estimated to cost something like $200 million. That backlog must be addressed.”

Mr Bromhead also criticised Greater Taree City Council and said “the council never had the capacity to pay its debts or to fund current road maintenance, let alone the maintenance backlog.” He cited three reports in parliament to support his criticism but added that in “mentioning those reports I make no reflection on the great staff in the organisation.”

“The MidCoast Council has great leadership under acting general manager Glenn Handford and the managers who have been appointed.”

Former Greater Taree City Council mayor Paul Hogan continues to publicly defend the performance of the former council, intends to stand for election on the new council in September and rejects Mr Bromhead’s argument for a 20 per cent rate increase.

“Stephen Bromhead has stated the virtues of MidCoast Council in the NSW Parliament while spruiking the need for a 20 per cent rate increase,” Mr Hogan said.

“Not only does he support less representation of the community in council activities, support the payment of an ineffective Local Representative Committee but now he thinks it is a good idea for all people, including pensioners, to pay 20 per cent more in rates. I guess he thinks it will make people vote for him – funny game State politics.”

In late 2016, MidCoast Council proposed to apply to IPART for a SRV to fund a shortfall in funding for council’s road renewal program. The proposal was put on hold after an Office of Local Government ruling out 2017/18 SRV applications for NSW’s merged councils. It was described as “modest” by council’s interim general manager Glenn Handford.  The proposed SRV of 11 per cent (nett five per cent Great Lakes; nett six per cent Manning and nett 11 per cent Gloucester) in year 1, followed by five per cent in years 2, 3, and 4 (inclusive of a 2.5 per cent rate peg and six per cent environmental levy) would deliver an additional $20 million. It included removing any existing rate variations in place in the three former council regions, and introducing the six per cent environmental levy across MidCoast. Calculations also factored in a waiver of the annual waste charge to deliver a cumulative saving to rate-payers of $120 over three years.