THE forecast doubling of the existing Fire Services Property Levy is in the crosshairs of Rural City of Wangaratta councillors who will advocate against it.
From 1 July, the levy will be renamed the Emergency Services Volunteers Fund (ESVF) and it will rise from 8.7 cents to 17.3 cents per $1000 capital improved value [CIV].
Property owners will be slugged with the increases and Wangaratta councillors have particular concern about the impost on primary producing property owners.
Under the new fund, emergency services volunteers will be exempt from paying the tax on their primary place of residence, but it leaves everyone else with yet another cost burden that Mayor Irene Grant said council does not want to collect on.
Cr Grant will meet with the Regional Cities Victoria (RCV) councils this week and the topic will be discussed.
“We’re not happy with the levy and I’ll be attending the RCV council and I’ll certainly be making our concerns known," she said.
“The last thing we want to be is a debt collector for the government.
“The matter isn’t on the agenda but there is always general business and I have spoken to other mayors with our concerns about that.
“I had a conversation with a landholder last week and they were talking about the impact on them and it will be a very significant financial burden.”
Cr Grant also queried how the exemption for emergency services volunteers would be regulated and she described the whole thing as “beyond ludicrous”.
“Councillors have talked about the tax and we’ve made it quite clear to the CEO in as much as we would like to see council take it on," she said.
“This is because of not only the burden to our community but also the burden to the organisation."
Cr Grant said a special motion detailing that the Rural City of Wangaratta does not support the increased property tax could be tabled at a council meeting.
“We need to get a sense of what other councils are thinking and feeling and we’ll obviously take our concerns to the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV)," she said.
“We’ll talk to our local MP [Tim McCurdy] about our concerns and the impact it will have, not only on council, but rural ratepayers.
"The rural city is assessing the rating strategy at the moment in how it collects it’s own rates, let alone for someone else.
“It’s a tough one, particularly when this is just imposed on you."
The ESVF will fund up to 87.5 per cent of FRV’s budget, and up to 95 per cent of CFA’s budget.
Other emergency services on the bill include VICSES, Triple Zero Victoria, the State Control Centre, Forest Fire Management Victoria and Emergency Recovery Victoria where the ESVF will fund up to 95pc of their budgets.
Meanwhile, Mansfield Shire Council this month voted to advocate against the ESVF as it's an unreasonable burden on the community and local government.
It cited that primary producers could see an increase three times what they're paying now, and the burden for ratepayers will be on top of their existing rates, and the recently implemented Vacant Residential Land Tax.