![Council officially requests 50 per cent rate rise, but there's a warning from IPART Council officially requests 50 per cent rate rise, but there's a warning from IPART](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184392265/7358ad3d-c44a-4040-9cf8-3f99c230e3ac.jpg/r0_0_1200_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A huge rate hike expected to impact everyone living in the Armidale region is on its way to the NSW government for approval.
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After community consultations, councillors from the Armidale Regional Council met for an extraordinary meeting in the Rusden Street chambers on Monday.
Their request for a 50 per cent land rate hike, also known as a Special Rate Variation SRV, over three years to 2026 is on its way to the Independent Pricing and Review Tribunal IPART.
If successful, the rate rise is predicted to be in effect from the start of the 2023 financial year, according to Armidale Regional Council documents.
But IPART Chair, Carmel Donnelly, has cautioned about pre-empting a rate rise approval and date, saying the application would first enter a meticulous process judged against five criteria before being accepted.
"We do consider all relevant information," she said.
"One of the things that is important in the process is that there can be changes between, if a council notifies us, what they put in in their application."
The criteria would include an assessment of whether the rate rise is reasonable and what the council has done to contain costs, inform the public and exhibit their plans.
She said IPART had received the notification from ARC to say they would be applying for the land rate hike and that she expected the formal application by February 3.
And for three weeks from February 10, members of the public would be able to send their submissions and feedback via the IPART website to be considered during the state government body's final decision.
If successful, the rate hike would cover badly needed repairs on roads, bridges, gutters and footpaths in the region while upgrading amenities such as parks, playgrounds, community buildings and the Armidale Aquatic Centre.
In a statement last year, Armidale Mayor Sam Coupland said the region needed a rate increase to fund the $7.8 million shortfall to improve declining assets and infrastructure.
"Our region voted to make this a better place to live but this can only happen if we make the hard decisions now," Cr Coupland said.
The rate rise would impact the base rate of property and land values, meaning property owners could pass on the increase to renters, putting extra pressure on families and individuals as the cost of living soars.
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This has worried many in the community, including a single mother on a low income who wrote in her submission that she is "fed up" having to fund "people much richer than me".
"I do not agree with and do not want to pay the higher rates. End of story," she wrote.
Another resident said the 50 per cent rate hike over three years was exorbitant and would hurt a lot of families who were already paying extra for insurance, electricity, gas and school fees.
"I understand that a small rate variation can be justified, possibly linked to the Consumer Price Index or inflation," he said in his submission to the council.
Others had full support for the increase, saying improved amenities and upgrades are needed and would also attract more businesses and tourists to the region.
During the extraordinary meeting, Margaret O'Connor and Dorothy Robinson were the only two of the 10 councillors present who did not support the rate increase in its current form.
It would be really good to put some thought into this issue.
- Dorothy Robinson
Cr Robinson also suggested the Armidale Regional Council takes a better look at how they communicate with the public, saying, "If I as a councillor find that the asset management plans are overly repetitive and hard to read, I do wonder how the community feels [about reading it]".
"It would be really good to put some thought into this issue," Cr Robinson said.
The council had previously argued that without the increase, there would be a "managed decline" in assets and infrastructure.
The council held three public forums, one each in Armidale, Guyra and Wollomombi, and two online meetings and accepted public submissions as part of their community consultation strategy.
In the 2022 - 2023 financial year, applications to IPART for an increase in rates jumped from about five a year to an incredible 86 councils requesting a rate rise.
IPART's Carmel Connelly said, "we did have an unusual year last year".
"That decision, which was made in 2021, was impacted by quite a bit of volatility from COVID, very low inflation and then increasing inflation," she said.
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