Byron Council is considering a significant increase in residential rates that could see local rate bills jump by more than 30 per cent over three years, as it tries to address its deteriorating financial position.
With Council staff warning of a ‘risk of insolvency’ unless action is taken, councillors last week gave a preliminary tick to draft budget documents that include a modelled Special Rate Variation (SRV).
These documents will now go on public exhibition, giving locals the chance to have their say on the possibility of a major rate hike.
Long-term financial plan
The proposed increase is one scenario modelled in Council’s draft long-term financial plan. It involves annual rate increases of around 10 to 12 per cent over three years from 2027.
Council’s financial outlook has become increasingly strained, with documents showing ongoing operating deficits and a steady decline in its unrestricted cash position.
Council’s own modelling indicates unrestricted cash reserves in the general fund are expected to fall to zero by mid-2027 without intervention.
The scale of the potential rate increase, and the financial context behind it, prompted concern from community representatives during last week’s Council budget meeting.
Ongoing and significant operating deficits
Mullumbimby Residents Association convenor Dale Emerson told councillors the documents ‘confirm… ongoing and significant operating deficits’ and questioned whether enough work had been done to identify savings before asking ratepayers to contribute more.
He described the proposed SRV as a ‘three year, permanent rate increase’ that would significantly boost Council revenue, while noting that even with the increase, Council’s own modelling shows it ‘will not… represent a complete or standalone solution’.
Community already suffering
Former mayor Jan Barham also spoke against the proposal, warning that ‘your community is already suffering from cost-of-living pressures… you should not be adding additional pressure’, and calling on Council to defer any decision until further work on cost savings and reprioritisation is undertaken.
During the debate on the Council floor, councillors moved to hose down concern about the proposed rate rise, stressing that the SRV remains a scenario rather than a decision.
Greens councillor Elia Hauge said the inclusion of the SRV in the long-term financial plan did not mean it would be adopted.
Extensive community engagement
‘Just because it is included… it does not mean that we are adopting it,’ she said, adding that ‘extensive community engagement… has to happen before we adopt an SRV’.
General Manager Mark Arnold echoed that position, telling the meeting that ‘nothing in today’s recommendation means that there is an SRV case being advanced’, and describing the plan as a way of testing financial options rather than setting a course of action.
Mayor Sarah Ndiaye said any future decision on a rate rise would need to carefully balance Council’s financial pressures with the impact on the community, particularly its most vulnerable members.
Any SRV would also require approval from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) before it could be implemented.
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