EXPRESS The
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Locally owned and proudly independent
SEEING DOUBLE
Teachers at Mareeba State School will have their work cut out for them in 2014 with the school boasting a record 12 sets of twins.
Rates left steady Mr Gilmore said there were three major financial challenges facing council and the community in the short-term: paying for de-amalgamation, upgrading the Mareeba Wastewater Treatment Plant, and absorbing an 860 per cent increase in the cost of raw water. The final cost of de-amalgamation is yet to be finalised but is expected to fall somewhere between $5 and $6 million or between $500 and $600 for each rateable property. “... while we will explore options to lessen the impact on ratepayers, the fact remains that whatever payment option is chosen, the end result is the same – the full cost has to be borne by the ratepayer,” Mayor Gilmore said. Upgrading Mareeba’s dilapidated waste water treatment plant is expected to come at a cost of between $27 and $30 million which would see
By Ryan Groube
R
atepayers have avoided short-term hip-pocket pain as the Mareeba Shire Council (MSC) left rates steady in its inaugural budget handed down on January 30. A lack of time, and the absence of key financial data stemming from de-amalgamation, limited the ability for council to make wholesale changes from the budget it inherited from the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC). Mayor Tom Gilmore said the budget marked the first step in restoring the Mareeba Shire as a viable local council but that ratepayers needed to be prepared for future “price shocks” in the 2014-15 budget which will be handed down in June.
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the annual charge for sewerage increase from $700 to $1300 for each household. As a result of the looming expense, the MSC has increased sewerage charges by $75 for the six-month period until the next budget is bought down. Non-residential premises in Kuranda, already paying an exurbanite amount for sewerage, will avoid this increase. Late last year, State-owned bulk water supplier SunWater advised council that the price of water supplied to towns across the region would increase from $58.72 to $563.54 a megalitre. SunWater has agreed to defer the increase for 12 months as a result of de-amalgamation but once implemented the increase will add $2.728 million to the operating costs of the Mareeba, Kuranda and Dimbulah water supply schemes. “The estimated increase in the annual water
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charge is around $482 per ratepayer once fully phased in [over five years],” Mayor Gilmore said. “With this increase plus the cost of de-amalgamation and the cost of the new Mareeba Sewerage Treatment Plant, there will not be much joy over the next few years and it is going to require very careful financial management to ensure that the new Mareeba Shire survives this difficult period. “These are quite extraordinary impacts people are going to have to absorb.” Mr Gilmore said he will be lobbying State and Federal ministers for financial assistance to help ease the burden on ratepayers. Reflecting on the budget, Mr Gilmore said handing down the budget had been an enormous
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the rise.net.au Contact: Debbie 0409 321 920