Armidale Regional Council (ARC) welcomes this morning’s announcement by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) of its decision to approve a 58.8 percent special variation to general income residential, farmland, business or mining land rates over three years.
Armidale Regional Council Mayor Sam Coupland said ARC is one of 17 NSW councils to be approved in full or partly approved a special variation and is indicative of the difficult financial position of many councils across the state.
“Today’s announcement marks a significant turning point for our region and will now allow council to address the systemic revenue problems that have plagued this council and the many iterations of it for decades in the past,” said mayor Coupland
“The current council was elected to make this a better place to live. Council has made the difficult decision now to ensure we have the services, amenities and economy that supports the vision for the region that we can all be proud of.
It is completely understandable that the community will have concerns about the increases to their rates particularly while there are ongoing cost of living pressures, we are all feeling it. But it would have been remiss of this council not to address the long term decline in services for the Armidale region.”
The special variation will be implemented from the 2023/24 Financial Year in the first rates instalment that will be distributed in July 2023. It will be staged over three years with 16.67 percent in 2023/24; 16.67 percent in 2024/25 and 16.66 percent in 2025/26.
“I want to remind ratepayers that the increase will only be applied to general income residential, farmland, business or mining land rates, the top two lines identified on your instalment, not the total amount you pay,” said Mayor Coupland
“The land rates are clearly identified on your instalment and it will also be phased over three years to ease the financial impact. Some ratepayers may also experience a change to their rates due to the impact of the ongoing rates harmonisation that commenced last year.”
To view IPARTS official media release announcing the special variations visit ipart.nsw.gov.au
Published on 15 Jun 2023