City of Canning plans to continue increasing rates despite promising to fix city budget this year

The City of Canning promised the 2023-24 financial year was the end of a three-year plan to fix the city budget through higher rate rises, yet ratepayers were this week confronted with an even bigger proposed hike for the coming year.

The council voted on Tuesday to advertise a rate rise of 6.75 per cent for the upcoming financial year, although some councillors vowed there was still time to reduce the size of the hit to ratepayers.

If the 6.75 per cent figure is approved in coming weeks, ratepayers could expect an average $81 higher bill than last year.

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The rates will underpin the city’s proposed budget of $167 million for 2024-25.

An officer’s report said a significant reason for the proposed rates increase was a $1.5 million allocation to improve both the Cannington and Riverton Leisureplexes.

“Recent condition reports have identified necessary works in excess of $10m which will need to be funded over the next five years,” the report said.

“The $1.5m increase in capital spend in the draft 24-25 budget absorbs almost 2 per cent of the proposed rate increase.”

Other southern suburbs councils have in recent weeks advertised rates rises of between 4 and 5.4 per cent.

Any move by the Canning council to lower the rates impost would affect spending in the budget, which city officers say includes plans to boost spending on CCTV and security to $5m, $25m to maintain and develop urban forests and parks, $14m to manage recreational facilities, $32m to maintain and expand transport and other infrastructure, $17m to manage waste and recycling, and $1.89m for the city centre regeneration.

The proposed 6.75 per cent rate increase comes despite the city promising the 2023-24 financial year was the end of a three-year economic recovery mission by implementing higher rate rises.

Yet last year’s rate rise was much less at 4.65 per cent.

Mayor Patrick Hall told PerthNow the proposed rise would keep Canning assets sustainable into the future.

“Frankly we are really struggling to keep pace with a really volatile market at the moment for a whole raft of things and whilst it seems like the rate rise is not in keeping with previous council intent, I have to say that every council has has a fiduciary requirement to manage the city’s assets in a way that will keep it sustainable,” he said.

“We are not going to be going down a road of trying to be populist and deliver small increases even though they will be of great disadvantage and detriment in the long term to our community.

“We’re trying to face the stark reality of the financial market we find ourselves in and deliver a rate rise that will keep us sustainable into the future.”

However, he said the city would continue to work on ways to try find savings in the budget to be able to lower the proposed rate.

“We are still working behind the scenes on our budget. This is only the first look at it and this is the proposed rate but we may actually land on a different rate,” he said.

At the council meeting, several councillors vowed to make that the case.

“We will try our hardest to make sure the rate increase is kept to a minimum. We recognise we have some work to do and we will do that,” deputy mayor Amanda Spencer-Teo said.

Cr Michelle Hurn took aim at the city’s asset management, claiming it did “not yet have the fundamentals in place incorporating whole lifecycle asset management planning”.

“In the next year I expect this gap to be closed and I will not be supporting any further sudden or above CPI rates increases to accommodate the city’s core function.

“With strong reservations around the fundamentals of asset management in the city, I will be supporting this motion.”

When asked if there would be potential to lower the proposed rates, Canning chief executive Michael Littleton said city officers were “obviously working very hard”.

“During our workshops we spoke about the cost escalations that are affecting our business but we are also giving you a commitment that we would come back with a range of proposals,” he said.

“At this stage we are balancing at 6.75 per cent but we will certainly be coming back and continuing to work to reduce our costs from a rate increase.”

Cr Hardeep Singh was against advertising the rates and said the city should find ways to make the rates lower before it was advertised.

“I request you to consider that any increase in council rates will undoubtedly increase the financial strain for many households in our community,” he said.

“It is crucial we explore other revenue generation strategies. We need to make Canning a better place for everyone without placing undue burden on those who are already struggling.”

Cr Singh was the only councillor against advertising the rate increase.

Canning’s proposed increase will be advertised for 21 days so residents can lodge written submissions before it is considered for the city’s 2024-25 budget.