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Byron Shire
March 27, 2024

Byron Council joins the campaign to ditch emergency services levy increase

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Byron Council ‘doesn’t have the money’ to pay the $260,000 increase in the Emergency Services Levy foisted on it by the state government, and will have to consider cutting programs or staff, Mayor Michael Lyon says.

The ink was barely dry on Council’s draft budget earlier this month, when the new Labor state government announced that the 128 councils across the state would be hit with levy increases.

Mayor Michael Lyon. Photo Jeff Dawson.

The increases are the government’s attempt to pay for a 73 per cent rise in the State Emergency Services budget and an 18 per cent jump in the Fire and Rescue NSW budget.

Cash-strapped mayors across the State are up in arms over the eleventh hour increase, and have rallied together to try and fight it, sending a flurry of letters to the government.

Byron Shire Council resolved to join the letter writing club at its last meeting.

It will tell the government that its decision will lead to a ‘reduction in important local services and the deferral or cancellation of necessary infrastructure projects’.

There will also be a call for the government to decouple the levy from the cap on Council rates so that councils can recover the full amount from residents.

But so far, these demands appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

‘It’s unconscionable really,’ Cr Lyon said during last week’s Council planning meeting.

‘We don’t have the money.

‘I know it doesn’t sound like a lot. For the State Government $260,000 is a pittance, but it’s not for us. For us $260,000 is three or four staff in key critical positions.’

‘Obviously, we need to see an increase in the emergency services budget, but I’m not sure why councils should be footing the bill for that.’

Speaking four days after the meeting, Cr Lyon said if the government refused to back track on the levy increase, Council would be left with the unenviable task of finding further savings in its budget.

‘We’ve already had to make savings in so many areas owing to the floods and covid before that,’ he said.

‘It’s very difficult to decide which program is more important than another.’

The Mayor also indicated that he would be moving forward with his plan to increase revenue by introducing paid parking in Brunswick Heads.

‘We’re doing the intercept survey at the moment…to get a better idea of the types of people who come to the town,’ he said.

‘We’ve already done the congestion analysis.

‘I don’t think there’ll be a Council vote [on the issue] before Christmas – hopefully by Easter next year.’

The state government says the levy increase is the fault of the previous government, which included the increase in the calculations for its pre-election budget, but failed to communicate this publicly.


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4 COMMENTS

  1. Well seeing that emergencies, such as floods and bush fires, happen at various places and with various impacts, all over the State, it would seem that they should be best coordinated at a State level with coordinated State funding. Local Councils already support individual local services and already bear most of the financial cost of local repairs. But if unsuccessful in getting the State to pay, other options than rate increase may be such as getting the community back on board to run the NYE event (previously run by Councillor/community/business volunteers at no cost to Council, but now by a $162,000 payment to a Qld event operator). Perhaps other options than a Rate hike could be discussed at the $13,800 Council staff Christmas party.

  2. The emergency services levy without subsidy should not come as a surprise as this is part of the so-called ‘local government reform’ started by the previous government where the cost of everything is passed on to ratepayers and not helped by the odd flood and fire event over the past few years where we discovered how poorly government was prepared. You will remember the major cuts to the Federal Assistance or FAGS grants which left a black hole in the budgets of many councils which some then used to impose a special rate variation on their ratepayers to cover the loss regardless of the social disadvantage status of the local government area. One of the major sources of the problem is the parlous condition the state coffers were left in by the previous mob, exemplars of the ‘best-management-that-money-could-buy’ and captive of the discredited neoliberal economics of yesteryear. Trouble is Labor is looking more and more ‘me-too’. And of course there is nothing inflationary in this latest imposition along with all the other rises in rates and charges which are about to go up, a new perverse version of the bullshit neoliberal sales pitch ‘all boats rising’!

  3. Mayor Lyon should be supported.
    In addition to this is an opportunity for local Council to discuss increased funding for regional areas with a new lens.
    Regional areas especially coastal are in dire need of repair and care post Covid visitation, floods, years of inadequate funding and yet they are funded on their residents numbers not their visitation. Whilst business may be slower the to do list for Councils hasn’t even begun to be ticked off and
    visitors are still flocking to these areas for mental well-being of nature surf as “day visitors” which doesn’t cover their costs. Nature is also paying the price of the wear and tear at a time we should be conserving and preserving wildlife and biodiversity and looking at regenerative tourism.
    Byron for example is constantly chasing it tail not able to afford the infrastructure ( although things can be definitely restructured here) needed to put in new technologies to self manage parking for example or signage to protect people place, biodiversity protection etc and resourcing. We are literally held together by quick fixes and inadequate amenities and budgets to implement much needed strategies to conserve and preserve highly valuable biodiversity and nature that has environmental, economic and well-being value aside from the tourism.
    How on earth and why would Government after floods etc and the above think it reasonable to wallop us again!
    There is an emergency for State Government to employ holistic accounting strategies that can account for reality.
    Perhaps an Environmental Levy for visitors can be proposed in addition to not handing local Councils with levy increases for Emergency Services.

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